One example of the struggle between majority and minority rights is the Quebec sovereignty movement. This is a political movement in Quebec that argues for the province's separation from Canada (“Quebec sovereignty movement,” n.d.). There are many reasons as to why this movement exists, this includes a general feeling of many Quebecers that they are the minority in Canada. This idea of being the minority stems from the fact that most of Canada speaks English while most of Quebec speaks French. There is also the fact that Quebec is largely Catholic while the rest of Canada is predominately Protestant (“Quebec sovereignty movement,” n.d.). Many Quebecers are also worried that since their culture is the minority it could taken over by the more predominant English cultures of Canada and the United Sates (“Quebec sovereignty movement,” n.d.). There are also political problems that have led to this feeling of anger towards Canada from Quebecers. This includes the fact that Quebec was left out of the creation of the constitutional amendment from 1982 which Quebecers say failed to solve the problems above (“Quebec sovereignty movement,” n.d.). The failure of the Meech Lake Accord caused this anger to increase with many feeling that the Federal Government cannot be reformed to benefit Quebec (“Quebec sovereignty movement,” n.d.).
With the arguments for the separation of Quebec there are also arguments against the separation of Quebec which include the issue that the idea of separation has distracted the province from larger issues like the deterioration of the economy (“Quebec sovereignty movement,” n.d.). There is also the fact that Quebec would not be able to keep all their land as native groups which control most of the land in northern Quebec would not want to be apart of a independent Quebec and would rather remain in Canada (“Quebec sovereignty movement,” n.d.).
Yet with these arguments Quebec has tried to leave Canada many times using referendums. A referendum is when the government decides to have an major issue decided by the people of the state/province through a vote. Quebec did this twice with the idea of separation including one referendum in 1980 which saw the separatists (independent Quebec) loose to the nationalists (pro united Canada) by a vote of 59% against separation and a vote of 40% for separation (“Quebec referendum, 1980,” n.d.). There was another referendum in 1995 that was much closer with the pro Canada side winning with 50.58% of the vote compared to the 49.42% of the vote which was for an independent Quebec, keeping Quebec in Canada (“Quebec referendum, 1995,” n.d.).
As of the time this page was written there have been no more referendums on the issue and there has not been a major push for another referendum.
This video shows the reaction of many after it was declared that the No (pro Canada) side won the 1995 Quebec referendum
Source: YouTube / CBC
Sources
Quebec referendum, 1980. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2015,
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_referendum,_1980
Quebec referendum, 1995. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2015,
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_referendum,_1995
Quebec sovereignty movement. (n.d.). Retrieved November 13, 2015,
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_sovereignty_movement