DCHP-2

SQ [εs kju:] DCHP-2 (October 2016)

• n. — Quebec, Administration

  the acronym for Sûreté du Québec, Quebec's provincial police force (see Image 1).

  Type: 1. Origin — The provincial police force of Quebec was formerly called Sûreté provinciale du Québec; the name was shortened in 1968 to Sûreté du Québec (see Canadian Encylopedia reference). The term is abbreviated to SQ in both English and French, but generally pronounced in the English way [εs kju:] in Quebec English. The term appears to be most prevalent in Canada (see Chart 1).
  See also COD-2, s.v. "SQ", which is marked "Cdn".

  See also:   Regie  Charter of the French Language  Oka ((2))  

  • Since Quebec has been a French-language province since the passage of the Charter of the French Language in 1977, provincial government departments and institutions have no official English names. Anglophone Quebeckers usually adopt and integrate the French names. Only occasionally, unofficial translations are used, e.g., "Quebec Provincial Police" for Sûreté du Québec perhaps after the model of the Ontario Provincial Police.