Quebec is not (yet) a new state in the United States, but it is certainly a North American cultural zone.
A very recent survey shows that a very large majority of Quebecers feel much closer culturally to the rest of America than to France.
The Léger firm survey carried out between November 29 and December 2, 2024 with a sample of 1,002 Quebec residents asked the following question: “You, personally, consider yourself to be closer to the culture of France or closer to North American culture? »
The conclusion becomes unstoppable. Three-quarters (73%) of Quebecers choose their part of the world, and barely one in six (16%) opt for Europe. One in ten (12%) refuse to answer or cannot decide, perhaps because they cannot answer “both”.
The results do not vary much depending on age, gender and even language! Non-French speakers say they are more North American at 77% and French speakers at 71%. The percentage of Quebecers speaking French most often at home is 77.5%, according to 2021 Statistics Canada data.
The survey, obtained exclusively by Dutyalso measured our feeling towards France. In this case, a majority of French speakers (52%) say they are distant from it and only 5% say they are “very close”. The group identifying with France is more numerous in Montreal (19%) and among university graduates (25%).
“We are not French Americans, as General de Gaulle said: we are French-speaking North Americans,” summarizes Professor Guy Lachapelle of Concordia University.
The survey was commissioned by the Center for Studies on Values, Attitudes and Societies (CEVAS), which he directs. A first survey, carried out in 2022, arrived at roughly the same findings. These surveys were inspired by another conducted among young people in September 2002 and sponsored by the Consulate General of France in Quebec. This portrait had already essentially established that young Quebecers identified themselves as North American.
Annexationist imperialism
The expansionist statements of President-elect Donald Trump, who will be sworn in on Monday, seem to signal the return of a 19th century doctrinee century. The temptation to integrate, whether voluntary or not, has resurfaced periodically since the founding of the American Republic. Canadian-Quebec Americanness has been discussed for almost as long. Books on the subject fill the shelves.
Americanization has been evident everywhere for decades, in the planning of cities, transport and overconsumption. It is greatly amplified with the digital revolution and the shift of culture to screens. The influence of the United States is deeply felt everywhere, in all spheres of activity, in popular culture and in university departments.
This imperial influence can be seen in many other Western countries. In his latest books (France before our eyes2021 et France after2023), pollster Jérôme Fouquet shows a country also under increasing American cultural perfusion. The evidence provided ranges from clothing to overconsumption, from films to television series, from shopping centers to fast-food and to the barbecue.
At the same time, marked differences persist here and there. Quebec still stands out for its French language, its institutions, its strong welfare state (daycare, drug insurance, parental leave, affordable studies), its defense of secularism, but also for the weakness of religion. in public debates, equality between men and women, etc.
“Being of North American culture does not mean that we accept all North American values,” summarizes Professor Lachapelle, currently on a sabbatical to write an essay on the subject. “Quebec clearly finds itself in social democratic values. »
The territory and the map
This time he provides as proof a map of the values of different countries drawn in 2023 based on international surveys from the World Values Survey network. The classification demarcates eight major areas: Confucianism, Orthodox Christianity, Africa and Islam, Latin America, South and West Asia, Catholic Europe, Protestant Europe, English-speaking countries.
Quebec, detached from Canada, then clearly moves closer to European countries with a Protestant tradition. We also find Germany, the Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The rest of Canada ranks with Catholic European countries, including Spain, Austria and… France.
The United States obviously positions itself with the “English-speaking peoples”, as Winston Churchill would have said, but in a quasi-autonomous zone. A very relative proximity was then established between Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, but also Canada as a whole, including all the provinces, including Quebec. We lose our Latin…
“We have a very American life, but very European values too, without forgetting the British influence,” comments Guy Lachapelle, before concluding on the need to defend these particularities. “We must resist and defend our distinct values. Resisting means fighting on the political front, taking our place to defend our culture, our interests and our way of existing. We must also find support in the United States in this fight. We must emphasize the chemistry with certain elements of the American political class. Trump is not all of America…”
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