In countries of immigration it is often assumed, and sometimes quite clearly demonstrated, that the events of n September 2001 and their aftermath had a negative impact on ethnic relations, especially with regard to the perception and treatment of Muslims, who often represent a significant minority population, particularly in Europe. Most analysts agree, though, that these phenomena were not created by the post-9/11 wave of islamophobia, but thrived on the fertile ground of a problematic historical relationship with the Muslim world, which dates back to the Crusades and was nourished by colonialism.1Given Canada's commitment to permanent settlement and multiculturalism, the relatively low percentage of Muslims in its overall migratory flux, as well as a near absence of historical antagonistic relations with the Muslim world, one might expect a relatively low negative impact of post-9/11 Muslim relations in Canada. One could rightly argue that Canada is not immune to the indirect influence of orientalism and the colonial and post-colonial casting of the other. Nevertheless, the absence of a legacy of unresolved contentious historical issues, such as the legacy of France and Algeria, is a significant advantage for Canada. Thus, one can wonder to what extent 9/11 had an impact on ethnic relations in Canada. Another interesting question is the complex interplay of internal and international dynamics in Canada. As the popular saying goes, all politics is even when politics follows international trends.In this article I focus on the special case of Quebec, the only Frenchspeaking province of Canada, which also constitutes the main core of a French-Canadian recently recognized by the federal government. The Quebec case is interesting in many aspects. Quebec has the unique character of a would-be European nation in North America. In addition, competing conceptions of citizenship (i.e., communitarian and republican) mark Quebec more so than the rest of Canada. On the other hand, Quebec, the second largest immigrant-receiving province of Canada, is also representative of wider Canadian cultural dynamics, or at least, in a country as diverse as Canada, no less representative than are other provinces.This article is divided into three parts. I first discuss the Quebec case of immigration and ethnic relations in Canada as both a special case and a broadly applicable example. I then turn to an assessment of the integration of Muslims into Quebec since 2001, focussing on the main characteristics of Muslim immigrants, their perceptions by the host population, the challenges they face, especially in terms of economic integration, and the reactions of their elites and leaders. Finally, I reflect on the local, national, and international factors that made difficult the decade Muslims in Quebec experienced from 2001 to 2011.IS THE QUEBEC CASE SPECIAL?Quebec is known internationally for its cultural production and its perennial political debate over sovereignty, both of which are unique to the province. In matters of immigration and ethnic relations, though, especially from a European standpoint, Quebec's shared characteristics with the rest of Canada are obvious.2 Whether nationalists recognize it or not, Quebec is a settler's society built and constantly redefined by migratory waves, with the peculiarity that the first colonial power to hold it was usurped by another. In the 19th and 20th centuries, immigrants came mostly from Europe because, officially, visible minorities (i.e., non- European) were not encouraged to migrate. From the 1960s onwards, with the adoption of a less discriminatory federal immigration policy, this pattern slowly changed, and by the end of the 1970s, non-western immigrants dominated migratory fluxes.In the wake of the neo-nationalism movement of this period, Quebec society also became stronglyinterested in immigration, changingits discourse from la survivance (i. …