History
It is not possible to understand the current political situation of Québec and the reasons for the existence of its strong independence movement without a solid knowledge of its history.
Real history is made of out a countless number of events. No historian ever intended nor was ever expected to enumerate and explain them in totality. When talking about the history of a given human community, a number of events must be selected and interpreted to make up a "story" with a beginning, a progression, and some sort of a conclusion. All over the world, in the past and in the present, patriotism and political leanings has weighted a great deal in the selection and interpretation of the events making up the tale of "national history". There is no exception for Canada or Quebec.
Many English language resources you will find on the Internet (type "Canada" or "Canadian" and "History" in Google) present a very superficial overview of Canadian history as it is understood and promoted by Canadian nationalists and Unionists who defend the point of view suitable to the purpose of the political power in Ottawa, even when it is morally wrong and/or supported by logically flawed arguments and/or factually incorrect assertions. In fiction, nobody expects a tale to be written following an unbiased and scientific collection of evidence. In the writing of human history, the national fairy tales taught in schools are too often closer to fiction than non-fiction.
In the view of a certain minority of interested individuals and their paid or fooled followers, it was decided that "modern" Canada was born with the "confederal" regime of 1867. This is the dominent perspective in Canada. The most important events of the history of Québec (and therefore also Canada) which occurred before 1867 are therefore sketched out in a manner which pays no respect to important facts necessary to understand the nature of today's conflict between Québec and the federal state of Canada and yesterday's conflict between Québec and the British government.
Québec, it is said by these nationalists, is only a province like the others, and it is therefore wrong to suggest the idea and even worst to ask for a special arrangement between Québec and the federal state. The secession of Québec is treason. The equality of provinces is therefore placed above and made in opposition to the equality of nations. But those same people hold the view that Quebec is not a nation, as they have learn from their historians, so there could not exist any good argument following from the premise that Québec is a political nation and was such even before the creation of the federal Dominion of Canada in 1867. In simple terms, their view is the history written by the victor, the one which is not interested in giving an accurate account of the way in which the victories were achieved and the human cost involved in achieving them.
Below is a list of on line English language resources that present elements of the history of Québec in a manner which does not completely make abstraction of, obfuscate, or misrepresent certain facts which the adversaries of the Québec nationalists simply ignore or choose to ignore because they are incompatible with their political preference.
We do not claim these external resources to be free of inaccuracies, errors or partisan opinions. With this page, we only wish to point out some external resources on the history of Québec which are not completely biased in favour of the thesises defended by the federal government and political parties waging war to Québec's nationalists, both the secessionists and the reformists, who, in spite of their disagreement on the best way to end the constitutional crisis of Canada, agree on basic facts and interpretations, such as the national character of Québec society, past and present.
Visitors to this site are expected to exercise judgement in order to figure out what is true and what is false and what is a fact and what is a point of view.
History of Québec
General
- 1524-2006: From New France to Modern Québec, by Patrick Couture, in Chez Cousture's Website
- Quebec History, by Claude Bélanger, history professor at Marianopolis College in Montreal
- The History of Quebec and Canada 414 course, what Quebecers learn of the history of Quebec and Canada at age 16
- Timeline of Québec history at Wikipedia.org
Before European colonization (- to 1534)
French rule (1534-1760)
- New France: 1524-1763, by Patrick Couture, in Chez Cousture's Website
- Virtual Museum of New France, in Canadian Museum of Civilization
- The Jesuit Relations and the history of New France, in Library and Archives Canada
- Our Huguenots Ancestors, by Michel Barbeau, in La page de généalogie de Michel Barbeau
- The Basques in New-France, by Mario Mimeault, Center for Basques Studies, University of Nevada, Reno, Issue 49, 1994b
- A Soldier's Account of the Campaign on Quebec, 1759, by Robert Henderson, The Seven Years War Website
British rule (1760-1931)
- Royal Proclamation (1763), by Claude Bélanger
- Lower Canada and the British Regime, by Patrick Couture
- Quebec Act, by Claude Bélanger
- Congress' Own Regiment - 1775-1783 in Wikipedia (on the role Quebecers played during the American Revolution]
- Constitutional Act, by Claude Bélanger
- Notes of Alexis de Tocqueville in Lower Canada
- The 1837 Rebellions on EduNET
- Civil War in Lower Canada, Intermountain History Group
- Documents on the Proposed Union of Upper and Lower Canada (1822), by Claude Bélanger
- Report on the Affairs of British North America
Federal Dominion (1867 - 1931)
- Province of Québec, by Patrick Couture
- Québec and the Confederation Project, by Claude Bélanger
- Québec and Federal Elections, by Claude Bélanger
- Confederation Debates and Provincial Autonomy, by Claude Bélanger
- How Others Have Viewed French Canadians and Quebec, by Claude Bélanger
Federal Dominion rule (1931 - Now)
This history of modern Québec is still being written right now. As one can imagine, much remains to be studied and analyzed.
- History of Modern Québec, by Patrick Couture
- The Quiet Revolution, by Claude Bélanger
- Jean Lesage and the Quiet Revolution (1960-1966), Claude Bélanger
- Chronology of the October Crisis, 1970, and its Aftermath, by Claude Bélanger
- Documents on the October Crisis
- The Language Laws of Québec
- Read the section dedicated to Québec studies
Diaspora
Franco-American
- Franco-American History Resources, Marianopolis College
- Revéil - Waking Up French, The Repression and Renaissance of the French in New England, a documentary film by Ben Levine
Franco-Ontarian
Amerindian & Inuit
- Read the section dedicated to the 11 forgotten nations of Québec
Black community
Immigration
French immigration
Acadian immigration
Irish immigration
- Gail Walsh, The Irish in Quebec, multiple articles in the Web site The Irish in Canada
- Janice L. Copeman, Personal Genealogy Site of Janice L. Copeman, from Shannon, Québec
- Memorian Sheehy, The Irish in Quebec, in Report, volume 11, Canadian Catholic Historical Association, Report, 1943
- Thomas Guerin, Timothy Silvain O’Sullivan, Doctor by the King’s Grace, in Report, volume 15, Canadian Catholic Historical Association, 1947-1948
- John A. Gallagher, St. Patrick’s Parish, Quebec, in Report, volume 15, Canadian Catholic Historical Association, 1947-1948
- Clarence F. McCaffrey, The Catholic High School of Montreal, in Report, volume 17, Canadian Catholic Historical Association, 1950
Scottish immigration
English immigration
- Patrick A. Dunae, English, The Canadian Encyclopedia
American immigration
Jewish immigration
German immigration
Historical figures
- Read the section dedicated to historical figures
Quebec French
Quebec French is a variety of the French language that came to be distinct from the French of France in essentially the same way in which the English of America came to be distinct from the English of England.
Political institutions
From the web site of the Directeur des élections du Québec (Chief electoral officer of Québec):
- A short history of the institution
- Right to vote of Québec women
- History of the electoral map of Québec
- Permanent list of electors
Warning : the word "democracy" is used liberally here to refer to the elective institutions of Québec in general.
Legal institutions
Independence movements in History
- Read the section dedicated to other independence movements
History of the Acadians
- Acadian History Resources, in the Acadian Cultural Society Web site
- History of the Acadians, in the Acadian-Cajun Genealogy and History Web site
- History of Nova Scotia in Peter Landry's Bluepete Web site
- Claude Bélanger, Les Acadiens / Acadians, Marianopolis College's Quebec History site
- Daniel L. Robichaud Cyberacadie.com : L' Acadie au bout des doigts (in French)
- Peter M. Toner, The New Brunswick Schools Question, in Study Sessions, volume 37, 1970
History of the Métis
- Biography of Louis Riel in Société historique de Saint-Boniface Web site
- Métis Culture and History Links in the Native Languages of the Americas Web site
- Judge Richard Chartier, Report and Recommendations on French Language Services Within the Government of Manitoba Francophone Affairs Secretariat, Government of Manitoba, May, 1998
History of imperialism
- History of Imperialism (World Wide)
- European Imperialism and Regional Responses
- CasaHistoria: Imperialism
- An Online History of the United-States: The Age of Imperialism
Genealogy
Straight from the Archives
- Documents relating to the constitutional history of Canada, 1759-1791, selected and edited with notes by Adam Shortt and Arthur G. Doughty, Ottawa, 1918.
- Private diary of Gen. Haldimand, by Frederick Haldimand (bilingual)
- The historical and miscellaneous literature of Quebec, 1764 to 1830, by Benjamin Sulte, Ottawa, 1897
- A Biographical sketch of the Hon. Louis Joseph Papineau : speaker of the House of Assembly of Lower Canada, Saratoga Springs, N.Y., 1838
- Tuttle's popular history of the Dominion of Canada : with art illustrations from the earliest settlement of the British-American colonies to the present time, together with portrait engravings and biographical sketches of the most distinguished men of the nation, by Charles Richard Tuttle, Montreal, Downie, 1877.
Journals of the Parliament of Lower Canada
- Journal of the House of Assembly, Lower-Canada (1793-1837)
- Journals of the Legislative Council of the province of Lower Canada (1802-1837)
- Journals of the Special Council of the province of Lower Canada (1838-1841)
See also
In this site
- Compare with the History written by the victor
- French language historical resources
- See a list of books on the History of Québec