Culture of Quebec

The Culture of Quebec emerged over the last few hundred years, resulting from the shared history of the French-speaking majority in Quebec. It is unique to the Western World; Quebec is the only region in North America with a French-speaking majority, as well as one of only two provinces in Canada where French is a constitutionally-recognized official language (New Brunswick being the other). Thus, French speaking Quebecois (7.83 million) differ from that of the 25.91 million remaining citizens of Canada. For historical and linguistic reasons, Francophone Quebec also has cultural links with other North American French-speaking communities, particularly with the Acadians of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Franco-Ontarian communities in Eastern Ontario, and to a lesser extent with the French-Canadian communities of Northern Ontario and Western Canada and the Cajun French revival movements in Louisiana, United States. As of 2006, 79% of all Quebecers list French as their mother tongue; since French is the official language in the province, up to 95% of all residents are capable of speaking French.

History made Quebec a meeting place for cultures, where people from around the world experience America, but from a little distance and through a different eye. The culture of Quebec is connected to the strong cultural currents of the rest of Canada, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. As such, it is often described as a crossroads between Europe and America. The Encyclopædia Britannica describes contemporary Quebec culture as a post-1960s phenomenon resulting from the Quiet Revolution, an essentially homogeneous socially liberal counter-culture phenomenon supported and financed by both of Quebec's major political parties, who differ essentially not in a right-vs-left continuum but a federalist-vs-sovereignist/separatist continuum.

Read more about Culture Of Quebec:  Folklore, Food, Sports and Hobbies, Events, Media, Cultural Institutions, Prizes and Awards, Aboriginal Peoples, Influences From Abroad

Famous quotes containing the word culture:

    The future is built on brains, not prom court, as most people can tell you after attending their high school reunion. But you’d never know it by talking to kids or listening to the messages they get from the culture and even from their schools.
    Anna Quindlen (b. 1953)