BY KATY LEROUGETEL
TORONTO - The week-long federal Supreme Court hearing on whether Quebec has the legal right to secede from Canada "unilaterally" concluded February 20 with the federal government emerging as the political loser. Ottawa initiated the hearing with the aim of intimidating sovereignist sentiment in Quebec by moving to declare independence illegal.

Instead, this attack created a broad consensus in Quebec among a wide range of political forces in favor of Quebec's right to decide its own future and was the impetus for the largest nationalist rally in Quebec since the 1995 referendum on Quebec sovereignty.

The Quebecois form a nation in Canada oppressed on the basis of their language, French. They represent more than 80 percent of the population of the province of Quebec.

La Presse, the major French-language and federalist daily in Montreal, called the federal government's initiative a "fiasco." Federalist forces across the country came out of it in disarray.

At the beginning of the hearings, 1,000 people rallied in Ottawa in support of Quebecois rights. Workplaces, hot line shows, and coffee shops in Quebec buzzed with near-unanimous condemnation of the federal government's stand. Polls taken throughout the week indicated that a solid majority of those living in Quebec think it is solely up to them to decide their future, despite Ottawa's threats of dire consequences.

On the evening of February 20 an overflow crowd of 4,000 people packed the Montreal convention center celebrating Ottawa's failure and demanding Quebec be given the right to decide its own future. The rally was called by the Party Quebecois (PQ), which forms the Quebec government.

All political parties with representatives in the Quebec legislature and nearly all of the media publicly opposed the use of the courts to thwart Quebec's right to decide its future. Representatives of the Quebec government refused to appear before the court. The Montreal English-language daily The Gazette and the Equality Party, which has no deputies in the legislature, raised the lone voices in Quebec in favor of Ottawa's case. The Equality Party says it is for "English rights," which in fact means for preserving privileges for English-speakers.

The federal Liberal Party has now announced it will take an active part in the upcoming Quebec provincial elections, a move widely seen as a sign of irreconcilable tensions between the Quebec Liberal Party, which opposed Ottawa's court case, and the federal Liberals.

Federalist forces across the country were also disunited around Ottawá move. A Toronto Star column called the federal court lawyer's performance "scatterbrained" and "a good reflection of the confusion... over how to handle the threat of Quebec secession." The Globe and Mail, Canada's national daily, moaned that there was "too much wrong and too much risky" in this court reference and that "the Supreme Court should find a way to put it off."

Federal lawyer Yves Fortier argued that Ottawa had never conceded "that there is a right to secede... Quite the contrary, the government of Canada maintains that there is no such right." He said that nonetheless Ottawa would not keep Quebec in Canada against its clearly expressed will. But, as a Toronto Star columnist pointed out, "The government has not renounced the use of force under other conditions." And it reserves to itself the right to determine whether Quebec's will has been "clearly expressed."

Only two provincial governments, those of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, made submissions to the court.

The Canadian Labor Congress (CLC), the largest trade union federation in Canada, complained, "This legal action takes us away from finding a solution and into emotionally charged territory." This is consistent with the CLC's long-standing silence and inaction in face of Ottawa's assaults on Quebecois rights despite the fact that several major CLC affiliates adopted resolutions in the 1970s supporting Quebec's right to self-determination.

In Quebec thousands of municipal workers took part in job actions in the week before the Supreme Court hearing to protest wage cuts imposed by the PQ government. After all- night negotiations, in the middle of the hearings, Quebec union tops and the government announced an agreement to cut wages, averting governmental legislation imposing the cuts. Gérald Larose, head of the National Confederation of Trade Unions (CSN) in Quebec joined Prime Minister Lucien Bouchard at the sovereignist rally on February 20.

The Grand Council of the Crees was one of several Native groups to appear before the court. Offering thinly veiled cover for federal use of force against Quebec, their lawyer said if a secessionist government tried to take control of aboriginal territory, Ottawa would have a legal obligation to stop it. "The Crees merely ask that they not be taken out of Canada against their will."

The Native peoples are oppressed throughout Canada, with the federal government in the forefront of enforcing their second-class status.

Katy LeRougetel is a member of United Steelworkers of America Local 5338.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home