The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.32           September 14, 1998 
 
 
Supreme Court In Canada Declares That Quebec Has No Right To Secede  

BY KATY LEROUGETEL
TORONTO - The nine judges of Canada's Federal Supreme Court handed down a unanimous ruling August 20 declaring Quebec has no right to secede from Canada, either under Canadian or international law.

They opined that "the Quebec population certainly shares many of the characteristics of a people" but "does not meet the threshold of a colonial people or an oppressed people" and so it has no right to self-determination. The ruling states that if there were "a clear majority vote in Quebec on a clear question in favor of secession," negotiations between Quebec and Canada would be required "to address the interests of the other provinces, the federal government and Quebec, and indeed the rights of all Canadians both within and outside Quebec, and specifically the rights of minorities."

A 1995 referendum calling for sovereignty for Quebec failed by a 1.6 percent margin, giving the Canadian rulers quite a scare. The big majority of Quebecois, who face oppression on the basis of their language, French, voted in favor of sovereignty.

Following the Supreme Court ruling, Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien said the federal government would not recognize a simple majority of 50 percent plus one, and insisted that the word secession or separation be used in any "clear" referendum on the question. Stéphane Dion, federal intergovernmental affairs minister, spelled out that Ottawa would continue to rule Quebec unless all the Supreme Court conditions were met, regardless of the expressed desires of the Quebecois. He warned that if secession were posed, Quebec's present borders would not be considered unchangeable.

Refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the Supreme Court on this matter, the Quebec government and Quebec's ruling party, the pro-sovereignty Parti Quebecois, had boycotted the original court hearings. Nevertheless, PQ officials hailed the court ruling. Provincial premier Lucien Bouchard said, "The next time, men and women in Quebec will be able to vote Yes with the certainty that negotiations will take place and that everything will be put into place for an orderly transition toward sovereignty in respecting the rights of all citizens."

Jean Charest, leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, insisted that the key issues in Quebec are jobs and the economy, since Quebecois are not interested in another sovereignty "neverendum." Both French- and English-language press presented the ruling as a signal that Ottawa was seeking diplomacy rather than confrontation. The French-language Montreal daily La Presse described it as "a Solomon's judgment."

"Plan B backfires" announced the Toronto Star. Plan B was the supposed hard-line denial of Quebec rights to be pursued by the ruling federal Liberals after the near-win by sovereignist forces in the October 1995.

Guy Bouthillier, the Montreal president of the nationalist association Société St-Jean Baptiste, said the judgment "delivered the goods to the feds, while giving the appearance of being balanced." Referring to the Canadian army's occupation of Quebec in October 1970, Bouthillier declared the ruling would not stop the Quebecois' march toward their political destiny. "It didn't work with the army in 1970; it won't work now."

Quebec Federation of Labor president Clément Godbout said, "At bottom, this whole question is not of a legal or judicial nature, but of a political nature." Teachers' Federation President Lorraine Pagé criticized the court for acting in bad faith.

On the courthouse steps in Ottawa on the day of the judgment, a few individuals brandished signs declaring their views, both federalist and sovereignist. One hand-lettered placard read "9 wigs against 7 million tuques," referring to the 7 million people who live in Quebec.

Katy LeRougetel is a member of United Steelworkers of America in Toronto.

 
 
 
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