Transformations of Anglophone Quebec

Abstract

The Anglophone community in Quebec has undergone significant transformations since the Quiet Revolution in the 1960s, and much has been written on its subsequent evolution from majority to minority status within Quebec and on its changing relationship with the Francophone majority (see Caldwell and Waddell 1982d; Scowen 1991; Legault 1992; Stevenson 1999; among others). The Larose Commission claims a new shift in Anglophone-Francophone relations, with ‘old French-English antagonisms having eased a little, if not substantially’ (Gouvernement du Quebec 2001a: 193). The report, cited above, considers that Anglophone Quebecers now regard themselves as Quebec citizens, that is, as fully participating members of Quebec society, with a sense of belonging or allegiance to Quebec. It presents a portrait of increasing integration within Quebec society of what it calls the ‘Quebec English-speaking community’, and in particular greater acceptance by the Francophone majority of the Anglophone community and its language. Far from being a threat, Quebec’s Anglophones should now be seen as an asset or bridge in the development of the province’s relationships with Anglophone North America.1