The Vigil Of Quebec

This book was first published in French in the wake of events which have come to be known in Quebec as the 'October crisis of 1970.' Yet this crisis was simply one particularly spectacular episode in the recent history of Quebec. The province has been shaken repeatedly in the last ten years: it has passed, in the author's view, from at least apparent religious unanimity to rapid dechristianization, from ignorance to massive schooling from Mr Duplessis to the independence movement, from the protest of Cité libre to the ascendancy of Mr Trudeau ... but the events of October 1970 have led Quebeckers to query with more anguish thanever before the meaning of the chaotic state of flux in which they live. Fernand Dumont, a sociologist, takes up this search from a personal standpoint. Rather than propose a theory, he attempts a reconstruction of recent Quebec history from the inside. The first three sections reflect the itinerary of a private conscience in quest of a native land and of a form of socialism suited to Quebec. The fourth section is devoted to the October crisis. This book is part of the broader process in which Quebeckers are engaged – attempting to arrive at a deeper understanding of their roots and collective existence in order to forge a better society. Fernand Dumont is perhaps the most sensitive and influential conscience at work in Quebec, and indeed Canada, today. Also included is 'A letter to my English-speaking friends,' which urges English-speaking Canadians to join in genuine dialogue with French-speaking Canadians. Dumont's thoughtful reflections on Quebec's social and political life invite 'les Anglais' to a new view of Quebec.

In the last seventy years, Quebec has changed from a society dominated by the social edicts of the Catholic Church and the economic interests of anglophone business leaders to a more secular culture that frequently elects separatist political parties and has developed the most comprehensive welfare state in North America. In Contemporary Quebec, leading scholars raise provocative questions about the ways in which Quebec has been transformed since the Second World War and offer competing interpretations of the reasons for the province's quiet and radical revolutions.

In a new chapter on contemporary Quebec, the book examines the 1995 referendum, discusses the ideological shifts and societal changes in Quebec under the Bouchard government, and considers Quebec's place in North America in the wake of NAFTA. A Short History of Quebec offers a concise yet comprehensive overview of the province from the pre-contact native period to the death of Pierre Trudeau in 2001. The authors provide an insightful perspective on the history of Quebec, focusing on the social, economic, and political development of the region and its peoples. Engagingly written, this expanded and updated third edition is an ideal starting place to learn about Quebec.

First published in French in 1981 under the title Le declin du nationalisme au Québec, this classic has received considerable critical acclaim. Graham Fraser of the Montreal Gazette wrote, "a suberb book: provocative, ironic, stimulating, and analytical, with a sharp eye for the social meaning of public events. Clift covered Quebec politics as a daily journalist for almost 25 years. He has succeeded in sweeping across events he covered to reduce them to their most substantial conflict." Dominique Clift's perceptive analysis traces two antagonistic trends in recent Quebec history: the growth of nationalism, which reached its high point with the election of René Lévesque in 1967, and the development of individualism at the expense of group solidarity.

DIVCanada is situated geographically, historically, and culturally between old empires (Great Britain and France) and a more recent one (the United States), as well as on the terrain of First Nations communities. Poised between historical and metaphorical empires and operating within the conditions of incomplete modernity and economic and cultural dependency, Canada has generated a body of cultural criticism and theory, which offers unique insights into the dynamics of both center and periphery. The reader brings together for the first time in one volume recent writing in Canadian cultural studies and work by significant Canadian cultural analysts of the postwar era. Including essays by anglophone, francophone, and First Nations writers, the reader is divided into three parts, the first of which features essays by scholars who helped set the agenda for cultural and social analysis in Canada and remain important to contemporary intellectual formations: Harold Innis, Marshall McLuhan, and Anthony Wilden in communications theory; Northrop Frye in literary studies; George Grant and Harold Innis in a left-nationalist tradition of critical political economy; Fernand Dumont and Paul-Émile Borduas in Quebecois national and political culture; and Harold Cardinal in native studies. The volume’s second section showcases work in which contemporary authors address Canada’s problematic and incomplete nationalism; race, difference, and multiculturalism; and modernity and contemporary culture. The final section includes excerpts from federal policy documents that are especially important to Canadians’ conceptions of their social, political, and cultural circumstances. The reader opens with a foreword by Fredric Jameson and concludes with an afterword in which the Quebecois scholar Yves Laberge explores the differences between English-Canadian cultural studies and the prevailing forms of cultural analysis in francophone Canada. Contributors. Ian Angus, Himani Bannerji, Jody Berland, Paul-Émile Borduas, Harold Cardinal, Maurice Charland, Stephen Crocker, Ioan Davies, Fernand Dumont, Kristina Fagan, Gail Faurschou, Len Findlay, Northrop Frye, George Grant, Rick Gruneau, Harold Innis, Fredric Jameson, Yves Laberge, Jocelyn Létourneau, Eva Mackey, Lee Maracle, Marshall McLuhan, Katharyne Mitchell, Sourayan Mookerjea, Kevin Pask, Rob Shields, Will Straw, Imre Szeman, Serra Tinic, David Whitson, Tony Wilden/div

Once on the margins of European empires, notably those of France, England and Spain, then a focus of international rivalries and wars during the 18th century, Canada is now a nation that is front and center in the world's affairs. Canada's emergence as a modern industrial nation and a key player in the resource, commodities, and financial institutions that make up today's world shows many aspects of what ex-colonial powers have gone through_except that compromise and reform rather than revolution and revolt have been the cardinal historical features. The second edition of the Historical Dictionary of Canada greatly expands on the first edition through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and over 500 cross-referenced dictionary entries on important persons, places, events, and institutions, as well as on significant political, economic, social, and cultural aspects. This book is an essential guide to the history of Canada.

What do we really mean by phrases such as "western Canadian political culture," "the centrist political culture of Ontario," "Red Toryism in the Maritimes," or "Prairie socialism"? What historical, geographical, and sociological factors came into play as these cultures were forged? In this book, Nelson Wiseman addresses many such questions, offering new ways of conceiving Canadian political culture. The most thorough review of the national political ethos written in a generation, In Search of Canadian Political Culture offers a bottom-up, regional analysis that challenges how we think and write about Canada.