DCHP-2

sovereignty DCHP-2 (September 2018)

• 1 n. — Politics, French relations

  the secession of Quebec from Canada and its existence as an independent country.

  Type: 4. Culturally Significant — Though sovereignty as a concept in the Canadian context is associated more frequently with actions taken at the start of the 1960s, the movement has roots in French Canadian nationalism from colonial times up to the 1957 formation of the Alliance Laurentienne (see the 1959 quotation). When the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s initiated rapid economic and social change within the province (see Canadian Encyclopedia, s.v. "Quiet Revolution"), segments of the French-speaking population began to see the merits of a politically independent Quebec. Several separatist groups formed and each had varying political opinions on how to approach the question of sovereignty. René Lévesque, founder of the Mouvement souveraineté-association, precursor to the Parti Québécois (PQ), is known for his efforts to promote sovereignty-association, an agreement that would allow Quebec to separate from Canada but maintain strong economic ties (see sovereignty-association). The failed 1980 referendum on sovereignty-association and the 1982 Constitution Act, however, significantly weakened the PQ, and it was not until the mid-90s that Quebec nationalism resurfaced at a substantial level (see Canadian Encyclopedia, s.v. "French Canadian Nationalism"). The second referendum in 1995 also failed, this time narrowly, with 50.58% voting against Quebec sovereignty. The Supreme Court of Canada has since ruled that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without negotiations with the Rest of Canada (see Canadian Encyclopedia, s.v. "Québec Referendum (1995)").
  Note that COD-2 does not label the term "Cdn", although it labels "cultural sovereignty" as such.

  See also: separatist ((adj.))  Parti Québécois  separation (meaning 1)  sovereignist  sovereignty-association  Rest of Canada  Meech Lake Accord  

  • The point can be made that uses such as Quebec sovereignty, see e.g. the 1967 quotation, are not different from other scenarios, such as Scottish sovereignty. This is, of course, true. What the example shows is that uses such as in the 1977 quotation, which refers to the anti-sovereignty campaign and require our Quebec-centred definition (see meaning 1), are not the only way to discuss sovereignity issues in Quebec.

  • 1959  The club, it was said, is affiliated with l'Alliance Laurentienne, a group dedicated to establishment of Quebec as an independent republic called Laurentie. [...] To achieve [secession], Quebec, of course, must first elect a Laurentian government. Then, according to the alliance, this government, among other things, would have to: "Proclaim the national, constitutional and political sovereignty of the State of Quebec so as to receive international recognition as the Republique de Laurentie." 
  • 1961  Are national political parties about to feel the impact of growing nationalist, and even separatist, sentiment in Quebec? [...] [Jean Noel Tremblay] saw his own and others' participation in federal politics as designed to provide Quebec with sufficient time with which to build up the basis on which its sovereignty would rest. 
  • 1967  A new Quebec political movement was born in Montreal during the weekend, dedicated to the sovereign-state thesis of former Liberal Cabinet Minister Rene Levesque. [...] Stressing the eventual need for a common front among advocates of Quebec sovereignty, Mr. Levesque did not exclude the possibility of alliances with other groups or individuals. 
  • 1977  On the other hand, all other members of the National Assembly are likely to form the provisional committee against sovereignty, or be divided in two or more provisional committees if more options than just two are on the ballot. In effect, the anti-sovereignty campaign will be run by an organization of which the president and the membership and governing structures will have been appointed by some mixture of the Liberal Party of Quebec, the Union Nationale, the Ralliement Creditiste and the Parti National Populaire. 
  • 1987  Members are still reeling from the infighting over the sovereignty question that split the party in 1984 and 1985, just before a tired and fed-up Mr. Lévesque stepped down under growing pressure from within his own caucus. 
  • 1993  Quebeckers' quest for sovereignty derives from the same kind of anxiety Americans feel when they wonder whether their children's lives can be better than their own, Parti Québécois Leader Jacques Parizeau said yesterday. 
  • 2006  The rise in support for the Conservatives in Quebec, plus the significant number of federalists looking to protest against the Liberals, has blurred the hard divisions between federalists and separatists that split the province during the 1995 referendum on sovereignty. 
  • 2014  The CROP poll suggests that the return to power of the provincial Liberals has left their federal cousins with little wind in their sails. With all federalist indicators flashing green; with support for sovereignty standing at less than 30 per cent, the NDP is riding high among francophone voters (38 per cent) while Trudeau's Liberals (24 per cent) are being pushed back to the sidelines. 

• 2 n. — Aboriginal, Politics

  the right of the Aboriginal peoples to govern themselves and their land.

  Type: 4. Culturally Significant — The term sovereignty in its Aboriginal context in Canada refers to the rights and power of the Aboriginal peoples to govern themselves with their own laws without interference from the Canadian government. Aspects of sovereignty include, but are not limited to, Aboriginal sovereignty over territory and resources (see the 1988 and 2009 quotations), education (see the first 2014 quotation), citizenship (see the 2014 quotation) and band membership (see the second 2014 quotation). While there have been political negotiations between the government and the First Nations and Inuit nations (18 self-government agreements with 32 communities, as of 2012), the Métis and other Aboriginal peoples that do not identify with a particular First Nation have yet to receive any sort of power of self-government (see Canadian Encyclopedia, s.v. "Self-Government: Indigenous Peoples").
  It is important to note the tensions between Aboriginal peoples' sovereignty and that of Quebec (see meaning 1). For example, the failed Meech Lake Accord (see Canadian Encyclopedia, s.v. "Meech Lake Accord") was very much connected to the disparity between Quebec claims of sovereignty and the province's refusal to recognize Aboriginal peoples' sovereignty (see the 1991 quotation).

  See also: self-determination  self-government  three orders of government (meaning 2)  

  • 1983  David Ahenakew, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, also spoke in a conciliatory way. He insisted that the Indians are not "separatists." He spoke of Indian sovereignty "within Canada." It's true, he used language that could appear to claim more sovereignty than Mr. Trudeau seemed prepared to give. But he avoided the abrasive language he has used on other occasions when he spoke of "non-negotiable rights" and "decolonization." 
  • 1988  The position put forward by O'Reilly is that because the Lubicon did not sign the 1899 treaty ceding their aboriginal rights, they still hold them. And so the Lubicon claim sovereign jurisdiction over 7,000 square km, the extent of their immemorial occupancy. The Lubicon have attracted a lot of attention. But explosive issues of "sovereignty" and claims to territory cannot simply be accepted on unilateral demand or ultimatum. 
  • 1991  In other words, natives want Canada to say that aboriginals never gave up their sovereignty; that the present Canadian sovereignty was imposed upon people who had been treated as nations by arriving colonists. 
  • 2009  Native leaders and activists at Akwesasne have been warning for months they would take action to prevent Canada from giving nine-mm pistols to its border agents, because they say the presence of armed government agents on their reserve is an affront to their aboriginal sovereignty. But people at Akwesasne have for years tolerated armed U.S. border agents on their territory. 
  • 2011  To most Canadians, the issue of aboriginal sovereignty is largely viewed as a dead one, or at least a latent, mostly quiet one. 
  • 2014  By moving on aboriginal education, with a pledge of almost $2 billion in the years to come, and providing aboriginal sovereignty over education, Harper has at least offered hope that more aboriginals will graduate with widely recognized diplomas and certificates that will make them more attractive to employers upon graduation. 
  • 2014  "Their status and identity is important for that so I want to make sure that you're a community member, you have status regardless of the Indian Act and its codes for membership, you are a member through blood line. We should be looking after our own codes," he said. "The Indian Act is now something that's not worth the paper it's written on. Where's that sovereignty of First Nations people to govern their membership, their citizenship?"