4.3.1 Canada and Quebec

French-Canadian society and culture did well in the years after the war. Then, in the 1960s, Quebec changed very quickly. That decade is called the Quiet Revolution. Many Quebecers began to want their province to leave Canada. Parliament reacted. In 1963 it created the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. The commission's work led to the Official Languages Act of 1969. Under that law, the federal government must offer its services in French and in English right across the country.

In 1970 Canada helped to found La Francophonie. That is an international association linking French-speaking countries. Meanwhile the movement for Quebec sovereignty kept growing. Voters in the province rejected it in a referendum in 1980. After long negotiations, the Constitution was amended in 1982 without Quebec's agreement. Sovereignty was put to a second referendum in 1995 and was defeated again. How much self-rule Quebec should have inside Canada is still argued about, and it still shapes the country.