Review Of Michel Seymour-Quebec Sovereignty '

Michel Seymour- Quebec Sovereignty: A Legitimate Goal

Seymour attempts to set out the legitimacy of a sovereignty movement. While Canada is not attacking the rights or physical security of Quebecers, this does not mean that there is no reason for complaints by Quebecers. Quebec has 25% of Canada’s population, and about 80% of them speak French as their first language. In comparison, the rest of Canada (ROC) there are only about a million people who speak French as their first language.

The sovereignty movement has always been about the protection of the French language and Quebec Culture. Outside of Quebec, the levels of assimilation of French speaking Canadians are very high. The federal government’s policies of Bilingualism and Multiculturalism

Seymour believed that another referendum was coming and that this one would result in a sovereign Quebec, which was both a legal and justified outcome. Seymour stresses the negative impacts that being part of Canada has had on Quebec: an illegitimate constitution, economic under development, and attempts at assimilation. Pelletier, however, believes that the best place for the Quebec nation is within the Canadian one. The economic issue, that Seymour stresses very hard, Pelletier brushes off as of secondary concern. The constitution that Seymour points to as illegitimate and therefore nonbinding, Pelletier sees as the basis for recognition of Quebec nationalism. One issue that both of the authors do, however, agree on is that of immigration. Seymour obviously has an issue with how immigration has played out, but for him the problem is not immigration itself, but how it works to prioritize English. Pelletier stresses that there is no need for an ethnocentric Quebec identity and that shutting Quebec off from the world would not be a benefit. Ignoring Minority rights is what has led Quebec to be in this position, and therefore Quebec should not repeat this