Timeline of Quebec history

This article presents a detailed chronology of Quebec's history from the origins of planet Earth until now. Events taking place outside Quebec (for example, in the other Canadian provinces, the United States or Great Britain) are included when they are considered to have had a significant impact on Quebec.

Note: in order to keep this page clean, readable and useful, please only include dated events and keep political revisionism out of it. There are other articles dealing with the Political History of Quebec, the Politics of Quebec.

Pre-European History

- 2,9 billion years ago, the enormous continental shield of mainly metamorphic and igneous rocks which we call today the "Canadian shield" is being formed. Approximately 95% of the surface of Quebec is made up of this gigantic shield.

- 350 million years ago, an enormous meteorite falls down on what is now the region of Charlevoix. The gigantic crater 56 kilometers in diameter is still clearly visible on the maps. This semicircular zone still is today the only livable zone where the soil is fertile in this rough and austere abrupt granite area.

- 255 million years ago, the slow collision between several continents will form the Appalachian Mountains. Although it was eroded considerably since, this imposing chain of mountain still extends today from Alabama to Newfoundland, passing through the Quebec regions of the Eastern Townships and Gaspesie.

- 13 thousand years ago, groups of hunters would have landed in America through the detroit of Bering. This is the dominant theory since 1927, however, there are other plausible theories.

- Paleo-Amerindians, whose presence in Quebec can be traced back 10,000 years, preceded the Algonquin and Iroquois Aboriginal peoples, with whom the Europeans first made contact in the 16th century.

- Some 8 thousand years ago, the south of Quebec became habitable when the temperature warmed up on this part of the Earth. The first peoples will begin to immigrate on what is today the territory of Quebec. They are the ancestors of today's Innu, Huron-Wendat, and Algonquin peoples. Since 1985, the Quebec government recognizes 10 Amerindian nations and the Inuit nation on its territory. The First Nations are the Mohawks, the Cree, the Algonquin, the Atikamekw, the Mi'kmaq, the Malecites, the Hurons-Wendat, the Abenaki and the Innu.

European Explorers

1001 - The Viking explorer Leif Erikson is, according to concrete scientific evidence, the first European to reach America.

1492 - For the Queen of Spain, Christopher Columbus crosses the Atlantic ocean. When he reaches the other side, he believes himself to be in Asia. Europeans officially become aware of the existence of a new continent that will later be named America.

1524 - Giovanni da Verrazzano explores the East coast of America from Florida to Newfoundland.

New France

(1534-1760)

Main article: New France

1534 - The first European explorer of what is now Quebec is Jacques Cartier, who planted a cross in the Gaspé peninsula in the summer of 1534 and sailed into the St. Lawrence River in 1535.

1541 - Cartier founds Charlesbourg Royal, first French establishment in America.

1537 - Pope Paul III proclaims that since the Sauvages'

1555 - With the outbreak of the French Wars of Religion in France, Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon flees persecution by the Catholics and establishes a Protestant French colony named "Antarctic France" in Brazil. The Portuguese will destroy it in 1560 following many conflicts between Protestants and Catholics.

1562 - The French attempt to colonize what is today the State of Florida. The colony does not succeed.

1572 - Following the August 24th St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of more than 70,000 Protestants in France, upwards of 400,000 French Huguenots were forced to flee the country, leaving behind everything they owned. They are denied the right to emigrate to New France and will be forced to settle in Germany, the Netherlands, England, Northern Ireland and the British Colonies in America. Full religious freedom for Protestants in France was not attained until church and state were separated in 1905.

1605 - Samuel de Champlain founds Port Royal (today Annapolis in Nova Scotia). See History of Acadia.

One Hundred Associates

(1608-1663)

1608 - Sponsored by Henry IV of France, Samuel de Champlain founds Quebec City with six families totalling 28 people. Colonization was slow, and by 1630 there are only 100 settlers and by 1640 only 359 people are living in the colony. Eventually, it would become the nucleus of New France and the origin of French exploration of North America.

The French brought their religion and language, which, as was done by all colonizing nations, were imposed upon the Aboriginal peoples. In addition, the French brought the practice of slavery with them, using black Africans shipped from Nantes, the major French port serving the slave trade. The laws of France applied to the colony, and slaves, such as the one given the French name of Marie-Joseph Angélique were summarily executed for minor crimes. However large-scale agricultural slavery, as practised in the Caribbean and the American South, was not economically viable in Quebec's climate, but slaves were used as domestic servants for the rich, field workers, or any other task that their masters dictated. It is believed that there were never more than 1200 African slaves in the entire colony.

1609 - Champlain joins a military expedition against the Iroquois. The Hurons and their French allies are victorious.

1610 - Étienne Brûlé is sent by the French to live among the Hurons to learn their language.

1627 - French merchants found the Compagnie de la Nouvelle France. King Louis XIII of France will grant them the monopoly on fur trade in return for their help in colonizing the St. Lawrence valley.

1627 - King Louis XIII of France introduces the seigneurial system and forbids settlement in New France by anyone other than Roman Catholics, ensuring that welfare and education is kept firmly in the hands of the Church.

1632 - The Couillard-Hébert family receives the colony's first slave. He is a black boy from the West Indies. Slaves are rather common in Canada until the end of the XVIIIth century. Historian Marcel Trudel has counted 4092 slaves throughout Canadian history, of which 2692 were Indians (the favourites of French) and 1400 Blacks (the favourites of British) owned by approximately 1400 masters. The region of Montreal dominates with 2077 slaves compared to 1059 for Québec and 114 for Trois-Rivières. Several marriages took place between French colonists and slaves (31 unions with Indian slaves and 8 with Black slaves).

1632 - Gabriel Sagard publishes Le Grand Voyage au pays des Hurons (The Great Voyage in Huron country) and a dictionnary of the Huron language.

1634 - Sieur de La Violette founds a fur trading post and a fort, which later becomes the town of Trois-Rivières.

1641 - Beginning of the French and Iroquois War.

1642 - Chomedey de Maisonneuve founds Ville-Marie, today Montréal.

1649 - Beginning of the genocide of the Huron people by the Iroquois confederacy.

1653 - The population of Quebec now stands at 2,000.

Sovereign Council

(1663-1760)

1663 - New France becomes a royal province in 1663 under Louis XIV. The government of New France had none of the representative institutions found in the British colonies to the south. The king of France was an absolute ruler but individual citizens were allowed to make appeals directly to the king or to the sovereign council. The soverign council was a body appointed by the King consisting of the aristocrat governor, an aristocrat intendant, and a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. Under the laws of France and its colonies, no person could speak for any group because this potential for a collective voice would threaten the king's absolute power.

The 1666 census of New France was conducted by France's intendant, Jean Talon in the winter of 1665-1666. It showed a population of 3,215 French persons residing in New France of which half lived in and around Quebec City. The population consisted of 2,034 men and 1,181 women. As a result of Jean Talon's census, the King of France decided to dispatch more than 900 single women, aged between 15 and 30 (known as les filles du roi) to New France.

In 1666, French troops, led by the aristocrat Alexandre de Prouville, the "Marquis de Tracy" and Viceroy of New France, invaded Iroquois territory to the south and burned their villages and destroyed their crops. The purpose was to allow French expansion of aboriginal territories and to discourage the Iroquois from settling near the borders of New France or along the St. Lawrence River. Following this, he launched an attack against the Mohawk tribe and decimated their territory. He seized all the Mohawk lands in the name of the king of France, and forced the Mohawk people to accept the Roman Cathoilic faith and to adopt the French language as taught by the Jesuit missionaries.

At its peak in 1712, Nouvelle France extended from Newfoundland to Lake Superior and from the Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. However, by 1713, French colonists in all of North America still only numbered about twelve thousand, while British colonists numbered almost one million. Another war in Europe saw France have its first permanent losses of territory in North America upon the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht (1713).

1734 - Marie-Joseph Angélique, a black slave, is hanged for burning the house of her owner.

1754 - A census shows the population of New France to be 55,009.

1755 - Beginning of the Acadian deportation. 12,000 Acadian civilians refuse to take an oath of loyalty to Britain and are deported, the bulk of which go to French-controlled Louisiana, where they would become known as Cajuns. This event is known as the "Acadian Expulsion."

1756 - Beginning of the French and Indian War.

[1758]] - Battle of Fort Carillon. The French and Canadian soldiers of General Montcalm resist the attack of Abercromby.

British Regime

(1760-1931)

1759 - In one battle during the Seven Years War on the Plains of Abraham near Quebec City, the English troops led by general James Wolfe defeated the French troops led by Louis-Joseph de Montcalm. This event is referred to as the "Conquest" by Canadian and Québécois historians.

1759- On September 18, Quebec City capitulates. The government of New France moves to Montreal.

1760 - On September 8, Montreal capitulates. Governor Vaudreuil surrenders to the British army on the terms of a treaty of capitulation. The Canadiens thus become British subjects and are de jure entitled to the same rights as the other British subjects.

1763 - The Seven Years War is ended by the Treaty of Paris. Louisiana is conceded to Spain and the remainder of New France is conceded to Britain after King Louis XV of France and his advisors choose to keep the territory of Guadeloupe for its valuable sugar crops. New France is viewed as a vast, frozen wasteland ("quelques arpents de neige" - Voltaire) of little importance to the French colonial empire. The majority of the members of the French aristocracy returned to France, leaving the Canadiens and the Acadiens people to their faith. The population of New France is estimated at 70,000 (60,000 in Canada, 4,000 in Louisiana, and 6,000 in Acadia). This includes the natives which are often left out of census.

1763 - With the October 7 Royal Proclamation by the British Parliament, New France is renamed the Province of Quebec. British laws such as the Penal Laws and the Test Act are now applicable in the Province of Quebec. The act requires all government office holders to swear allegiance to the British crown and to renounce to Catholic practices. The primary effect is the exclusion of French Catholics from these positions.

1764 - On September 17, the Civil courts are established, ending the military rule of Canada which began during the Seven Years War.

1764 - British merchants ask Governor Murray that the French civil code be replaced by British common law and that a House of Assembly be created for them alone, excluding the French-speaking and Catholic Canadiens. Governor Murray rejects the demands.

1765 - The population of Quebec is 69 810.

1765 - 95 Canadiens submit a first petition demanding that the orders of the King be available in French and that they be allowed to participate in the governement.

1773 - Canadiens submit a petition demanding the re-establishement of French civil law.

1774 - In May, British merchants petition the King demanding an assembly and opposing the re-establishment of French civil law.

Quebec Act

(1774-1791)

1774 - Pressured by the agitation in its American colonies, and hoping to win the loyalty of the discontent Canadiens, the British Parliament enacts the Quebec Act, which restores French civil law while keeping the British common law for criminal court procedures. The act also allows for the Roman Catholic Clergy to operate as before and dispenses the Canadiens from the Test Act. The act also tries to thwart the American colonists' land claims by expanding the boundaries of Quebec southward to the Ohio River, and provides for sole governing of the vast Western territory by a viceroy of the King.

1775 - The American Continental Congress writes a Letter to the Inhabitants of Canada inviting them to join in the revolution. The letter is printed in Philadelphia by Fleury Mesplet.

1775 - During the American Revolutionary War, Montreal is captured and the revolutionaries attempt to rally the people of Canada to their cause. The revolutionnary army is defeated before Quebec City.

1783 - Following the official recognition of the independence of the former american colonies by Britain, loyalists in the newly independent country immigrate to the Province of Quebec. A good number of them will settle in the Eastern Townships, today a region of Québec called l'Estrie or les cantons de l'Est.

1784 : The population of the Province of Quebec is 113 012.

1789 - The French Revolution begins with the taking of the Bastille.

Constitutional Act

(1791-1840)

1791 - The Constitutional Act divides Quebec at the Ottawa River, creating Upper Canada (now Ontario) and Lower Canada (now Quebec). Lower Canada keeps its French civil laws while British Common Law is introduced in Upper Canada. British parliamentarianism will be introduced in the two colonies.

The Constitutional Act gave Canadiens their first participation in a representative government under the British parliamentary system. It created a legislative assembly with elected representatives and an Executive Council consisting of members nominated by the British-appointed governor. The legislative assembly would have the power to present recommandations to the Executive Council, which would then decide whether they should be applied. These recommandations were often ignored by the Executive Council in both Lower and Upper Canada, and as a result, requests for a more democratic system were made.

In Lower Canada the sum of the citizens' demands and grievances were formulated in the Ninety-Two Resolutions written by Louis-Joseph Papineau, leader of the Parti Patriote. Three years after the resolutions were presented, London replied with the Ten Russell Resolutions. Following this and numerous other events, Papineau's political movement became more radical. A warrant of arrest on the nationalist leaders sparked an armed conflict by both the English and French citizens of Lower and Upper Canada known as the Rebellions of 1837).

In the new United States, free enterprise saw rapid developments in the building of new roads, canals, and a vast expansion of industry and new technologies. In Canada, the French-speaking citizens had no interest in business pursuits, preferring to remain a static agrarian society, resolute to maintain its growing isolation from the rest of North America. Following the decimation of the Catholic Church hierachy in France's revolution, the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec taught French Canadians the doctrine that they had been given the divine mission to preserve a Catholic society uncorrupted by the worldly ideas that the citizens of France had embraced as part of the French Revolution. French Canadians came to see farming as a way of life that helped preserve the values espoused by the Church and believed that excluding themselves from trade and commerce was a good thing. As a result, English-speaking citizens, and American corporations came to dominate the business sector in Quebec.

1792 - First elections in Lower Canada. The first session of the assembly is host to a debate on the language to be used during the proceedings.

1806 - Pierre Bédard and François Blanchet found the newspaper Le Canadien. It is the first newspaper to oppose the British colonial authority and defend the rights of the Canadiens. It was the answer to the Quebec Mercury, a newspaper founded by the Tories.

1808 - Louis-Joseph Papineau and Denis-Benjamin Viger are elected for the first time. They join the Parti Canadien.

1810 - The governor of Lower Canada, James Craig, stops the press of Le Canadien and puts the owners, Pierre Bédard and François Blanchet, on trial for sedition. The newspaper had opposed the project of a Union of both Canadas.

1812 - Second American invasion of Canada.

1815 - On January 21, Louis-Joseph Papineau is elected speaker of the Legislative Assembly. He will keep being reelected until the armed rebellions.

1822 - Lower Canadian British merchants and bureaucrats petition for the Union of Upper and Lower Canada into a single colony before the British Parliament in London.

1823 - With the accord of the Legislative Assembly and even the non-elected Legislative Council, Papineau and John Neilson are sent to London by the Parti Canadien to bring a petition of 60,000 signatures against the Union project.

1826 - Ludger Duvernay, Auguste-Norbert Morin, and Jacques Viger found the newspaper La Minerve.

1827 - The Parti Canadien becomes the Parti Patriote.

1828 - Daniel Tracey founds the newspaper The Vindicator. Originaly meant to defend the rights of Irish immigrants, it will become the English language voice of the Patriotes over time.

1829 - Foundation of McGill University.

1831 - Ludger Duvernay and Daniel Tracey are arrested for their opinions, charged with sedition.

1832 - Daniel Tracey spends 35 days in prison in January for writing an editorial attacking the non-elected bureaucrats of the colonial government.

1832 - During a partial election in Montreal on May 21, British soldiers open fire on the crowd and kill three supporters of the Parti Patriote.

1832 - A first cholera epidemic kills 6000 people.

1832 - The Parti Patriote votes a law giving full political rights to the Jewish minority of Lower Canada.

1833 - The British Parliament passes the Slavery Abolition Act giving all slaves in the British Empire their freedom.

1834 - Foundation of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste on June 24. Its symbol is the Canadian maple leaf.

1834 - The Parti Patriote is elected with a strong majority of about 95% of the registered vote. That is 77 of 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly and 483 739 votes against 28 278.

1834 - The Legislative Assembly presents the Ninety-Two Resolutions.

1835 - The Canadiens found their first Bank La Banque du Peuple. The institution will collapse with the war.

1836 - Foundation of the Doric Club, the reincarnation of the illegal British Rifle Corp.

1836 - Laws establishing the Écoles normales of the country. They would have been the first secular, public, and free schools of Lower Canada.

1837 - On March 6, the Ten Russell's Resolutions arrive in Lower Canada, 3 years after the Ninety-Two Resolutions. Not only do they ignore all the demands of the Legislative Assembly, they take away the only power it has: the power to vote against the budget.

1837 - Founded in August, the Société des Fils de la Liberté holds its first public assembly on September 5. This organization had two sections. A civil one, lead by Papineau and O'Callaghan and a military one, lead by Thomas Storrow Brown.

1837 - Various Assemblées populaires are held throughout Lower Canada between May and November.

1837 - The Doric club attacks the Fils de la liberté on November 6, 1837 and take this occasion to destroy the office of the Vindicator and vandalize the house of Papineau, who will be wanted for treason 10 days later.

1837 - On November 16, Lord Gosford orders the arrest of the patriot leaders, including Papineau, O'Callaghan, Brown, and Ouimet.

1838 - February 26, Robert Nelson, General of the Patriotes, gathers between 600 and 700 volunteers (the Frères Chasseurs and American sympathisers) and try to invade Lower Canada.

1839 - The Patriotes Rebellion is put down and the report of Lord Durham, sent to investigate the uprising, recommends the union of the Canadas with the expressed purpose of assimilating the French-speaking Canadians. He also recommends the creation of a government responsible to the legislative assembly.

Act of Union

(1840-1867)

1840 - The Act of Union is passed by the British Parliament. The parliament of Lower Canada and Upper Canada are abolished. A new Parliament of Canada is created to replace them. The new merged colony is named the Province of Canada. Upper Canada will be named Canada West and Lower Canada will be named Canada East. Canada West, with its 400 000 citizens, is represented by 42 seats, the same number as the more populated Canada East, with 600 000 citizens. This political union is similar in nature and in goals to the other Acts of Union voted by the British Parliament.

1844 - Establishment of the Institut Canadien. A kind of public library and debate room, it will be the source of the ideas defended by the Parti Rouge. Its moto was: Justice pour nous, justice pour tous; Raison et liberté pour nous, raison et liberté pour tous (Justice for us, justice for all; Reason and liberty for us, reason and liberty for all).

1849 - The first responsible government was instituted, under the Liberal coalition of Robert Baldwin from Canada West and Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine of Canada East. The first Prime Minister of United Canada is Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine.

1849 - The Parliament votes the Rebellion Losses Bill that compensates people who have suffered property damages during the 1837-38 rebellion in Lower Canada. British Tories, opposed to this law and to the responsible government system, burn down the Parliament in Montréal during a riot. Only a few months before, a similar law had been passed for former Upper Canada.

1850 - Beginning of the French Canadian emigration to the United-States. Referred to as la Grande saignée (the Great Exodus), this migration will see approximately 900,000 people leave Quebec between 1850 and 1940.

By 1760 there are around 20 French villages in the St. Lawrence River Valley. By the time of the 1851 census, that number will have increased to 248. The French Canadian population in 1851 Quebec is 670,000, representing 75.2% of the total population. By 1901 it will have almost doubled to 1,322,000, amounting to 80.2% of the total.

1851 - According to a census, the population of Canada West is now numerically superior to that of Canada East. Politicians of Canada West begin to battle for representation by population.

1852 - The Collège Laval, the first institution of higher learning in Canada receives its Royal Charter on December 8. It becomes the first French language university in America.

1854 - The seigneurial system of land tenance is abolished in Canada East.

1864 - Wanting an end to British domination, and full self-government without bloodshed, leaders of Canada hold talks to form a confederation, which in turn leads to the creation of the Dominion of Canada with New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The Province of Canada would be redivided along the Ottawa River into Ontario and Quebec.

Federal Dominion of Canada

(1867-1931)

1867 - The British North America Act is passed by London. Georges-Etienne Cartier, who dominated Québec politics, plays a major role and will become Deputy Prime Minister of Canada.

File:1867.jpg

Quebec (brown) in 1867

1867 - Following the creation of the new country of Canada, the first provincial elections in Quebec were held in August: the Bleus (Conservatives) support the confederation; the Rouges (Liberals) oppose the already passed new British North America Act. 55% of Quebecers vote Bleu and 45% vote Rouge. Voting was not held for various reasons in a third of the provincial ridings and in a number of urban francophone neighbourhoods known to oppose the pact. Citizens were repeatedly warned by the Church that voting against the pro-confederation party was a mortal sin. The ballot was not secret, as was the rule at the time, and priests were specifically forbidden to give absolution to the unrepentant sinners. Many pro-confederation candidates won dubious victories with majorities of as little as six votes. Backed by this evidence, many judge this first provincial election to have been tainted with fraud. Over the ensuing century, political corruption charges were often laid against various parties in Quebec provincial elections.

1868 - The member of Parliament of West-Montreal, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, makes a speech supporting the new constitution act voted by the British Parliament at the request of Canada's leaders. The same night, while on his way back home, he is assassinated by an Irish Fenian, Patrick Whelan.

1885 - Hanging of the Metis, Louis Riel. The Prime Minister of Canada, John A. MacDonald declares that "Even if all the dogs of Quebec bark, Riel will be hanged!"

1871 - The Common School Act of New Brunswick imposes tax measures to pay for French Schools.

1877 - Law against French schools in Prince Edward Island (Public School Act).

1879 - The rules of hockey are established by three McGill students.

1887 - Election of Honoré Mercier, leader of the Parti National.

1890 - Law abolishing public funding of Roman Catholic schools in Manitoba, reduces the teaching of French inside classes, and abolishes its use in the Parliament and the Courts. (see Manitoba Schools Question).

1896 - Wilfrid Laurier, born in Saint-Lin, Quebec becomes the first Quebecker to be elected Prime Minister of Canada.

1898 - The Parliament of Canada extends the northern boundary of Quebec to the Eastmain River.

1900 - Alphonse Desjardins founds the first credit union in North America. Today, the Desjardins Credit Union Federation is the biggest financial institution in Quebec.

1904 - Henri Bourassa pleads in favour of bilingualism in the institutions of the federal government. His motion receives almost no support.

1912 - The Parliament of Canada extends the northern boundary of Quebec to Hudson Strait.

1912 - Ontario limits the teaching in French to grades one and two of elementary school with Regulation 17. The teaching of French, as a subject, is limited to one hour per day. Inspectors are required to inspect the formerly-French schools for a total of 220 half-days to ensure the respect of Regulation 17. In Quebec, English is not taught in French schools run by the Roman Catholic Church. Teaching of and in English is reserved to Protestant schools.

1914 - First World War. Most French-speaking Quebecers reject the idea of sending conscripts to the war in Europe, but Quebec volunteers in the 22nd (French Canadian) Infantry Battalion, CEF, distinguish themselves on the Western Front. The rest of Canada overwhelmingly supports the war to save France.

1916 - English becomes the only authorized language of instruction in Manitoba. The province's important French-speaking population is forced to attend English schools until 1970.

1917 - There are riots in Quebec as the federal government enforces conscription (see Conscription Crisis of 1917).

1918 - Lionel Groulx, becomes the first priest to publicly denounce the injustices against French speakers. He denounces the unilingual English face of Montreal, the absence of bilingual coins and bank notes, and the absence of French in Ottawa, the federal capital. Later, when such opinions weren't uncommon for North American and European Christians, he denounced Jews and supported the Nazis in Germany in numerous 1930s articles in Montreal's Le Devoir newspaper.

1922 - Joseph-Armand Bombardier engineers the first prototype of a snowmobile, the Snowdog. The first fully operational unit will be assembled in 1935.

Sovereign Canada

(1931-Today)

1931 - The Statute of Westminster removes the last vestiges of British power in Canada.

1936 - The Vimy Ridge Memorial opens in honour of the thousands of Canadians who died on the battlefields of France.

1939 to 1945 - Volunteer army and air force units from Quebec -- some francophone, some anglophone -- fight with merit in Europe.

1940 - France falls to Germany, Canadian soldiers have again volunteered in the millions to liberate France from its Nazi occupiers.

1942 - Referendum on conscription. Quebec votes against conscription a second time; the rest of Canada votes in favour (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).

1948 - Louis St. Laurent, born in Compton, Quebec, is elected Prime Minister of Canada.

1948 - Paul-Émile Borduas, Jean-Paul Riopelle and other Quebec artists publish the Refus Global which denounces artistic and moral conformity in Québec.

Modern Quebec

(1960-Today)

Under the Union Nationale government of Maurice Duplessis, the Roman Catholic Church was allowed to maintain control over social services such as schools and hospitals. Under the constitution, the provinces had control of education, but in Quebec the school system was entirely confessional. The Protestants and Roman Catholics ran separate school systems in Quebec until the 1990s when secularization of schools took place under the Parti Québécois government. The clergy used its influence to exhort voters to stay with the conservative government, who also took firm stands against social reform and unionism.

In 1960, under a new [[Parti libéral du Québec|Liberal Party] government led by Premier Jean Lesage, the political power of the church was greatly reduced. Quebec entered an accelerated decade of changes known as the Quiet Revolution. The Union Nationale would return to power in 1966, despite getting only 41% of the popular vote against 47% for the Liberal Party.

During the 1960s, a terrorist group known as the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) launched a decade of bombings, murders, robberies and attacks on government offices. Their activities culminated in events referred to as the October Crisis when James Cross, the British Trade Commissioner to Canada, and Pierre Laporte, a provincial minister and Vice-Premier, were kidnapped. The latter would be murdered a few days later.

1968 - Pierre Trudeau, born in Montreal, Quebec, is elected Prime Minister of Canada. With him are Quebecois friends Jean Marchand and Gerard Pelletier, who will become powerful politicans in the country.

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Quebec (brown) in 2002

October 26, 1968 - The Parti Québécois is born out of the merger of René Lévesque's Mouvement souveraineté-association (Movement for Sovereignty-Association) with the Ralliement National. Later the Rassemblement pour l’Indépendance Nationale political party disbands and its members join the Parti Québécois. The party advocates a reconfederation recognizing Quebec as an equal and independent nation. It is elected in 1976 and its government is known as the "republic of teachers" for its high number of candidates teaching at the university level.

The PQ passes laws to favour equal financing of political parties. On August 26, 1977 the Quebec Charter of the French Language (the so-called Bill 101) becomes law. The charter is a fundamental law making French the sole official language of Quebec while guaranteeing the rights of the English-speaking community. Among other things, it restricts attendance at English schools to encourage the francisation of immigrants.

The first enactment of the charter became controversial for its regulations on commercial signs. It banned exterior English-only and bilingual commercial signs, as the government claimed that they violated the right of the French-speaking majority. The section of the law regarding language on signs was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, see: Ford v. Quebec (A.G.). The law was amended to comply with the Supreme Court ruling. The current 1988 law specifies that signs must be in French but can be multilingual so long as French is predominant. Some businesses now voluntarily choose to put English under the French on signs where market forces warrant.

Furthermore, in order to ensure and encourage the participation of Quebec's majoritarily francophone population in political and labour matters, French was made the official language in the workplace and in the governments' affairs. Thus, current and prospective employees could no longer be subject to discrimination if they could not speak English or preferred to speak French instead. Also, internal written communications were now required to be in French, as well as in any other language deemed necessary by the employer.

In 1980, Premier Lévesque put sovereignty-association before the Quebec voters in a referendum. 60% of the Quebec electorate voted against it.

April 17, 1982 - Led by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, the Canadian government moved to patriate the constitution. The separatist government of Quebec refused to cooperate unless its list of demands for more powers were met, including the demand for a Constitutional veto. The federal government and the other nine provinces were not prepared to give the province of Quebec veto power over constitutional changes. As such, in accordance with Canadian law, and as upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitution was repatriated with the full approval of every province except Quebec.

1984 - Brian Mulroney, born in Baie-Comeau, Quebec, is elected Prime Minister of Canada.

From 1985 to 1994, the federalist Parti libéral du Québec governed under Robert Bourassa and Daniel Johnson, Jr. Under the Liberal government, progress on the constitutional issue resulted in the Meech Lake Accord in 1987, but it collapsed in 1990. Another constitutional deal, the Charlottetown Accord, which sought to resolve a long list of unrelated issues at the same time as it resolved the rest of the nation's relationship with Quebec, was rejected by country-wide referendum in 1992.

1993 - Jean Chrétien, born in Shawinigan, Quebec, is elected Prime Minister of Canada.

1994 The Parti Québécois was elected to office, led by Jacques Parizeau, who became the party's leader on March 19, 1988.

October 30, 1995 - Another referendum on sovereignty is held. For the second time, the measure was rejected, this time by an extremely slim margin, less than one percent. The federal Liberal Party under Prime Minister Jean Chrétien came under sharp criticism for mishandling the "no" side of the referendum campaign.

October 24, 1995, the James Bay Cree, occupying most of northern Quebec for more than 5,000 years, had held their own referendum on whether or not their territory should remain a part of Canada. Over 96% of the Cree First Nation voted in favour of retaining the relationship with Canada.

1995 - After public outcry for his remarks in his referendum concession speech, Jacques Parizeau resigns and is replaced by the head of the federal Bloc Québécois, Lucien Bouchard. Under Bouchard, the sovereigntist option was pushed aside, as public opinion polls showed that Quebec residents were not likely to support another referendum on the issue of sovereignty. As Premier, Bouchard adopted a stance favorable to the status-quo, stating that he would wait for undefined "winning conditions" for sovereignty.

1999 - The Clarity Act becomes a federal law. It is modeled after the Supreme Court of Canada's ruling, following a reference requested by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. The Court ruled that:

The four fundamentals of the Constitution lie in federalism, democracy, the rule of law and constitutionalism, and respect for minorities. None of these trumps the other;
A unilateral declaration of independence is illegal - secession must happen by achieving constitutional reform;
All parties must negotiate if Quebec separatists gain a clear majority on a clear question.

Ironically, the definition of clear question and clear majority were never given in the bill. Instead, it stated that the federal government would determine "whether the question is clear" and whether a "clear majority" is attained. Sovereigntists argue that this bill grants veto power to the federal governement over referenda on sovereignty.

March 8, 2001 - Following the resignation of Lucien Bouchard, Bernard Landry becomes premier of Quebec. Controversy erupts when Landry refers to the Canadian flag as "bits of red rag" by saying that the Quebec people would not prostitute themselves for "des bouts de chiffon rouge."

April 2001 - Quebec City hosted the Summit of the Americas, attracting huge anti-globalization protests with activists from everywhere in the Americas.

October 26, 2001 - A Leger Marketing poll shows that support for Quebec sovereignty has hit a 20-year low. The survey says that 59.1% of Quebecers would vote against sovereignty

April 14, 2003 - Jean Charest, a strong federalist and leader of the Parti libéral du Québec, becomes premier of the province after ten years of governing by the separatist Parti Québécois.

December, 2003 - A SOM poll shows that support for sovereignty-association is once again on the rise. 46,4% are in favour, 45,6% are against.

Note: Population fiqures for Quebec are taken from the Quebec Yearbook, 1970, p. 137.

Also in Wikipedia:

Quebec - Quebec French - Quebecers - Quebecois - List of Quebecois - Politics of Quebec - Politics of Canada

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