Partition: The price of Québec's independence : a realistic look at the possibility of Quebec seperating from Canada and becoming an independent state

by William F. Shaw

205 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite this being written almost 39 years ago, from a Liberal, Anglo Canadian-nationalist point of view, I had to admit that I found many of the arguments interesting, logical and possibly correct if I was concerned enough in 2020 to wade into what I understand as mainly an archaic discussion surrounding Quebec national sovereignty with someone. The fight for a Quebec nation state has evolved into a populist racist/homogeneous discourse that is full of fear mongering and policy tweeting around language and secularism but not actually a struggle anymore for a distinct nation state. So it was interesting to read old material and compare it to today’s discourse around national sovereignty whether in Quebec or somewhere else like in Rojava. It’s rare to read articulate arguments about the original maps of Quebec, border territorial legitimacy and whether partitioning would occur and be ‘allowed’ based on constitutional rights and flipping the same arguments around sovereignty to smaller Anglo majority regions within Quebec, and the authors critiques towards myth making vis a vis nationalist language around distinct identity (the forming of the concept of French Quebecker and disassociating from French Canadian etc), so for these reasons I was generous with the book and gave it 3 stars. I’ve lived in Montreal for 20 years, with the first decade mainly immersed in anarchist circles so my attention when discussing ‘the sovereignty question’ has always focused on what would be the results of a new nation state- how systems of power would replicate under new territory designations, rather than be eliminated, yet being able to understand and agree with the need for collective identity and explore what would be the differences within a plurality, or a separate nation state. For me I’ve always been concerned about ongoing colonialism within Quebec and how that fits in or out within the discussion and the dynamic of ‘othering’ that takes place. There are no easy answers and I’m grateful we have never gone to war over these questions and dynamics, like so many other places in the world. As gentrification of Montreal is in full force and the cost for housing for both renting and buying is becoming out of control, a simplistic part of me longs for the fight for Quebec sovereignty to return in full force, simply so that there is a massive flight of investment, massive flight of Anglo’s to Ontario, and the city that was so inviting for artists and anarchists comes back. I know it’s not just a problem here in Montreal and largely due to transnational unfettered capitalism so hopefully the issue can be overcome with global response that doesn’t actually fall into ethnic/nationalism in fighting.