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Abstract
This paper examines Quebec's management of immigration and diversity in the promotion of cultural and political autonomy from Canada. Quebec has been able to secure some of the prerogatives of a sovereign nation-state in part through its control of immigration and its development of an intercultural integrative policy framework. Instead of diminishing the national distinctiveness of Quebec within the Canadian federation, rising immigration has accentuated it in many ways. The concept of intercultural nationalism is used to define a particular state-building strategy that is responsive to economic and demographic changes brought by increased global integration. We argue that the emergence of Quebec as a strong nation with sporadic, but specifically dominant and legitimate state power is reflective of the adaptations that many nation-states have undergone in response to the challenges of globalisation. By that measure, the Quebec state is, in a sense, more of a national state than it ever was in the past. Increasing diversity both within and outside its borders has contributed to this evolution.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the two anonymous JEMS reviewers whose comments greatly improved this article.
Notes
1. Our aim is not to evaluate the merit of this position, or to contribute to the political debate on the issue of Quebec sovereignty. Although inevitably acrimonious, this debate has remained within the bounds of democratic parliamentarism. Our objective is to contribute to a better understanding of an important aspect of the question—the ongoing dialogue between national and global forces—as it has been unfolding in Quebec and the rest of Canada.
2. This linguistic dualism was the result of failed colonial efforts to assimilate the Francophone population after the British acquisition of Canada in 1763. The Quebec Act of 1774 established the political precedent of a Quebec province with a linguistic, cultural and legislative structure distinct from the rest of British Canada. This uniqueness would become known as the ‘French Fact’ and would engender Canadian tendencies toward cultural pluralist political strategies. This ‘Fact’ would also play a central role in establishing a Canadian federalist governmental structure that grants significant autonomy to provincial governments.
3. The term ‘national’ is used here to describe specifically intra-state political entities based on a shared system of normative social and cultural institutions. In this context, we view Quebec as a quasi nation-state with a distinct and viable national character. Understanding the Quebec ‘nation’ as a distinct population within Canada has been legitimated by a November 2006 parliamentary motion recognising the Québécois as such.
4. It should be noted that Canadian and Quebec immigration is a largely urban phenomenon, with rural areas lagging with respect to ethno-cultural diversification. The intensity of conflict and social/demographic change has been more pronounced in areas such as Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, due to the centrality of economic growth in any given immigrant-receiving area. Montreal, as the locus of economic activity and growth in Quebec, is an area of high labour migration and, therefore, social change (see Li Citation2003).
5. We are grateful to one of the anonymous JEMS reviewers for assistance with this point.
6. Both Marxian and Weberian sociological analyses understand Western society (generally Judeo-Christian, European and North American) as embodying specific cultural predispositions toward rational thought, as opposed to the cultural, religious and ultimately pre-modern forms of social organisation found in ‘Eastern’ societies. This fundamental difference motivated Marx to critique the ‘Asian mode of production’ as a basic and primitive form of early capital accumulation (1956: 52) and Weber (1968) to conclude that inherent cultural differences retarded ‘Eastern’ capitalist development. For a substantial critique of this ‘Eurocentric’ approach to social development see Frank (Citation1998: 12–20).
7. Current birth rates in Canada are 1.5, and in Quebec 1.46. In order to maintain current population levels—exclusive of immigration—the native fertility rate must be 2.06. Neither current rate is sufficient to sustain current population levels nor meet increased labour demands resulting from continued economic growth.
8. The majority of immigrants to Canada settle in these three urban centres.
9. Canada received about 230,000 immigrants in 2002, the majority from Asia. See Citizenship and Immigration Canada (2002) for details.
10. Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.
11. Many Ways to be Québécois (authors’ translation).
12. Cultural ‘convergence’ in this context refers to the process of cultural integration. Specifically, ‘convergence’ occurs in Quebec as diverse ethnicities and cultures maintain traditional cultural norms and practices within the integrative context of a common language (French).
13. We are Building Quebec Together: Policy Announcement on Matters of Immigration and Integration (authors’ translation).