Polysemy in the Quebec debate

Polysemy (from the Greek πολυσημεία = multiple meaning) is the capacity signs (e.g. a words, phrases, etc...) to have multiple meanings. The Quebec debate is full of ambiguous terms which make it very difficult for observers to follow the logic of arguments from both sides.

Two Canadas

Advocates of Quebec independence will refuse to agree with the statement that "Samuel de Champlain is the founder of Canada" unless it implied the notion that the word Canada is used in its archaic sense of "Canada, the main colony of the province of New France". Because Canada is today a word that refers to the federal Dominion created by a law of the Parliament of Great Britain in 1867, we cannot say that Samuel de Champlain is the founder of this Canada, however we can say that he is the founder of French Canada, ceded to Great Britain and subsequently renamed "Province of Quebec" in 1763. Samuel de Champlain is the founder of a nation which today still perpetuates itself as a human group calling itself "Les Québécois" because they consider their homeland to be Quebec. These people are very much aware of this, especially advocates of independence. They are also very much aware that the State which used to be called Canada, the State whose legal system was the Coutume de Paris, whose capital was in Quebec city, whose population resided along the St. Lawrence river valley is NOT the State which is today called Canada.

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