Hi, I’m French and we do have snow cousins in Québec, Canada!
I was wondering what was the USA policy about Quebec?
Does it help the french speaking community to gain independence, in a way to weaken and destabilise it’s northern neighbour, Canada?
Or on the contrary does it prefer to deal with Canada, an English speaking country with a Protestant background, opposed to French speaking community with a Catholic background?
38 comments
There is no specific policy about Quebec.
Canada is one of the US closest allies ans trading partners. All of our national policy refers to Canada, not it’s provinces.
Language and historical roots is of no concern.
Quebec is Canada, Canada is a very close ally.
I don’t see a world in which Quebec becomes independent.
This question doesn’t make sense. Why would language and religion dictate foreign policy? Our oldest political relationship is with a French speaking, Catholic country. France.
And we have no US policy about any Canadian province. Canada is our largest partner. Why would we want to destabilize our neighbor?
Why on earth would we ever want to “weaken and destabilize…Canada”?
Good fishing up there in Que-bec
Why would we have a policy on this?
There is no policy. Quebec is Canada, Canada is an ally.
If Quebec goes independent? Then the US will likely treat with Quebec as it does with any other western democracy. I would practically guarantee Quebec is given an option to join NATO and NAFTA and become a part of the same system as the US and Canada.
I think the last time there was an official opinion on Quebec was when they tried to secede from Canada in the 90’s and Clinton said “its their decision to make but I think its a bad one.”
We benefit from having a stable Canada; there’s no US objective to destabilize them.
The status of Québec is generally considered a Canadian matter to figure out. I checked the state department website just to make sure my impression was correct, and I couldn’t find any specific mention of Québec’s independence or anything like that: [https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-canada/](https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-canada/)
I do like the term “snow cousins,” though.
Le Quebecois.
Huh?
You know. Wine drinkers. Pea soup eaters. French Canadians!
Edit-Canadian Bacon featuring John Candy with a cameo by Dan Akroyd is a masterpiece (maybe not masterpiece, but it’s funny)
Cheap European vacation
> in a way to weaken and destabilise it’s northern neighbour, Canada?
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why would we ever do that?
> Does it help the french speaking community to gain independence, in a way to weaken and destabilise it’s northern neighbour, Canada?
I think we’re pretty agnostic about Quebec’s independence but we don’t want to cross any of Ottawa’s red lines. We haven’t had any serious geopolitical problems with Canada since the 19th Century; there was a time in American history when the political consensus was that the U.S. should kick the British out of Canada and take over it.
In fact, Ottawa is the capital of Canada rather than Toronto because after we unsuccessfully invaded Canada during the War of 1812, the Canadians assumed we were going to come back for another bite at the apple; Ottawa is the capital today because its further from the American border and easier to defend from a ground invasion. Later, in the mid-19th Century, there was an abortive plan to raise a militia of Irish immigrants and have them storm Canada, then hold it hostage in exchange for Irish independence, with Washington D.C.’s backing. It never materialized but it goes to show you that we had our gunsights set on Canada for quite a while.
But that’s ancient history now. We have good relations with Ottawa and don’t want to jeopardize them.
The US does not have foreign relations with Quebec, BC, Prince Edward Island, Ontario, or any other individual province.
As an American, I look at Quebec’s policies of cultural suppression of anglophones and think it’s absolutely bizarre that Canada as a whole accepts this, but Canada is a sovereign nation. If they’re fine with these sorts of laws, it’s really not the place of the US to intervene and I’d be horrified of the US did intervene.
I am rather recent on the Quebec knowledge train but in learning, Ive come to the conclusion that Quebecois people are strange.
Let me explain, the people are far too tied to their language, Quebecois French, even me saying that is going to have Quebecois warriors mashing at their keyboard. The hatred I have seen IRL and online of any suggestion that Quebecois people should be bilingual is fucking astounding. The common opinion I see is that your culture is under attack, and that anyone suggesting learning English is ignorant, yet nobody can explain it without trying to weave a narrative of victimhood.
I too often see the word racist thrown around in response to opposition of these conservative Quebecois views, which is equally baffling considering that Quebecois people are dominate in Quebec, and that being Quebecois is a culture, not a race.
Quebec has been a British colony/province longer than the US has existed, you are part of Canada, you are Canadian citizens, some Canadians learn French because of Quebec influence, its time to join the 21st century and stop being so insular and absorbed with an identity that is backwards today.
You won’t find help in the US, Canada is one of our oldest and strongest allies. At this point the idea of a free Quebec is akin to the idea of Texas seceding in the modern day, that is, its a nationalist fantasy that you are so great and everyone else stinks.
Americans never think about the Quebecois.
>I was wondering what was the USA policy about Quebec?
There isn’t one. That’d be like Canada having a policy about Nevada. We deal with Canada, not individual Canadian provinces.
>Does it help the french speaking community to gain independence, in a way to weaken and destabilise it’s northern neighbour, Canada?
….***what?***
I’m just going to assume this is a joke that didn’t translate well.
Is this an admission that France is trying to destabilize other countries 🤔
We’re not going to destabilize the most polite allied neighboring country we could conceivably ever have. Not to mention we dealt with our own home-grown regional separatist movement via a costly civil war that one time.
Fwiw, here’s an article on what U.S. policy towards a Quebec that voted for independence would’ve looked like: https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.2573351
The military has some invasion plans for Canada somewhere in the Pentagon probably just in case. Canada is currently an ally so we’re not super interested in destabilizing it especially since it helps us with monitoring airspace for incoming nuclear missiles and we get like half our oil from them.
> Does it help the french speaking community to gain independence, in a way to weaken and destabilise it’s northern neighbour, Canada?
Why on earth would we want to do that? Having a destabilized country on one’s border is a threat to national security.
If you have some political fantasy about Quebec separating, why? What good would it do for anyone?
Why would we have a separate policy for a single province? Our international relations are with nations, not with states/provinces.
Language and religion have nothing to do with it. Did we cut relations with France because you speak French and are largely Catholic?
One of America’s number one strategies is to try and keep any country it borders as stable as possible, you make more money that way.
Why would we ever interfere in the affairs of Canada? They are our neighbors and closest friends. We have nothing but best wishes for the continued harmony and success of Canada.
In terms of Quebec, that’s really not subject to our discussion. Let the Canadians figure that out.
The last time I heard anything was back, during the Clinton administration, when the referendum got passed in Quebec. There was a referendum up on separatism, and both Quebec and the Maritimes (who would be stranded separate from Canada, with Quebec in the way, in the event of an independent Quebec) asked what America’s position on it was.
Rather than take a position pro or con, the White House’s attitude was “It was entirely unclear what it *means* if you pass that referendum- is Quebec independent now [it wasn’t], or does it just mean that you’ll form a committee to look into it [now we’re talking.]?” Since (as it should be) this put the entire onus on the decision on Canadians instead of definitively saying “we’ll do this or that when *you* do this or that.”, it was effectively neutral.
So far as I know, since then, the official policy is summed up by the Latin phrase “My name’s Paul and that’s between y’all.”
Still upset they set Celine Dion loose on the world, and never let us know where the off switch was to her voice.
But you gave us Peter Cullen and Norm McDonald. So it kinda evens out.
Who?
I think the general policy is that we like stability, especially in a bordering country with strong economic ties. I don’t think our government cares, except that stability is maintained.
je ne sais pas
The United States does not have a specific policy regarding the province of Quebec in Canada. As a sovereign country, Canada is responsible for its own domestic affairs, including issues related to its provinces and territories. The United States and Canada have a long history of cooperation and close relations, and the United States recognizes the sovereignty of the Canadian government over all of its provinces and territories, including Quebec.
[Clinton gave a speech supporting federalism instead of separation during the 1995 referendum](https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/24/world/clinton-in-talk-to-canadians-opposes-quebec-separation.html). Canada is a crucial ally and we don’t want to upset them.
We hear about how annoying Quebec is for the rest of Canada and typically agree theyre stuck up and annoying as well
I see it as a French speaking province of Canada. Nothing more nothing less. I don’t care about who is Catholic and who is Protestant, I can’t imagine why that would matter to me.
I don’t know that the us officially has one. I suspect that if anything were to happen, the us would align with whatever canada’s position would be, because canada is a good neighbor. i.e., if canada were cool with it, the us would probably recognize quebec without issue. if canada was not cool with it, the us would be less likely to do so
I mean… From a political standpoint we generally deal with countries as a whole. We don’t really treat Quebec as a separate political entity from the rest of Canada. They’re a part of Canada.
Maybe your wording is just confusing, but I don’t really understand the premise of this question.
This would be like asking: does France have any specific policies about the U.S. state of Vermont? Like yeah a bunch of people speak French there, but when it comes to foreign policy I assume France would be dealing with federal representatives and ambassadors and not have specific policies regarding individual states.
Edit: are you asking if Quebec gained independence would we treat them any differently than the rest of Canada? If so then I still think the answer would be generally no.
Few Americans realize that Canada includes a French province. Fewer, still, realize that immigration to Quebec is unique to that province. It isn’t a topic Americans think or care about. So no, we don’t have a specific policy towards Quebec other than “those are Canada problems.”
Having said that, and my experience is 20+ years old at this point, as someone who lived close to the Quebec border for a decade – I didn’t meet a single Quebecois that took any Quebec nationalism very seriously. Yes, they are proud of their language, but they will speak perfectly inflected North American English the moment they realize you are an American. I have met immigrants in Quebec whose first language was Spanish, second English, third – some messed up French.
Their reputation is almost entirely undeserved. They are a remarkably hospitable and gracious group of people.
There is no such national policy with any province in Canada.
Il vous faut apprendre mieux l’histoire de l’Église catholique au Canada avant de poser telle question.
Depuis le 19me siècle, la population catholique au Canada est divisé entre les communautés linguistiques, dont la partie anglophone celle qui comprend des immigrés irlandais, écossais, et plus récemment des italiens est plus grande qu la partie francophone. Cette communauté francophone est aussi amaigri par la révolution tranquille, ce qui comprend la croissance de l’athéisme parmi les catholiques francophones au Canada. Donc il n’existe aucune division protestante-catholique queles É-U ne peuvent exploiter.
La politique des États-Unis concernant le Québec est plus ou moins aveugle. Pendant les années Reagan, les É-U et le Canada collaborait pour construire un réseau des canals entre les grands lacs et la fleuve Saint Laurent pour permettre que l’échange marine puisse dépasser le Québec. Ça veut dire que les États-Unis ont agi pour rendre plus fort le Canada au chagrin du Québec. Mais, depuis cela, comme je peux me le souvenir, il ne avait aucune parole direct sur cette question par des diplomats américains.
Tl;dr aucune politique dans ce cadre n’existe de façon forte.
Merci de souffrir mon pauvre français.