Vive le Québec libre speech

"Vive le Québec libre !" (Long live free Quebec!) was a famous and controversial phrase in a speech delivered by French President Charles de Gaulle in Montreal on July 24, 1967.

De Gaulle was in Canada on an official state visit under the pretext of attending Expo 67. While giving an address to a large crowd from a balcony at Montreal City Hall, he uttered "Vive le Québec !" (Long live Quebec!) and then added, almost drowned out by the crowd, "Vive le Québec libre !" (Long live free Quebec!). Many people mistakenly think that this sentence, the third-last of the speech, was the last one. "Vive le Québec libre !" was a popular slogan for people wishing to show their support for Quebec sovereignty.

Background

Even before his arrival, the Canadian federal government had worried about de Gaulle's visit. Earlier that year, the French government had not sent a representative to the funeral service for Governor General Georges Vanier. This attracted notice in Canada, as Vanier and his wife Pauline had been personal friends of de Gaulle since 1940, when he was in exile in London. So worried was the Lester B. Pearson government about potential interference of France in domestic affairs that cabinet minister Paul Joseph James Martin was dispatched to visit de Gaulle in Paris to smooth over ties.

De Gaulle had been invited by Quebec premier Daniel Johnson. Although a visiting head of state, he did not arrive in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, according to conventional political protocol. Instead, he flew to the French colony of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, two islands off the south-east coast of Newfoundland, and then sailed on the French navy's Mediterranean flagship, the cruiser "Colbert", so that he could arrive in Quebec City. [cite book
last = Berton
first = Pierre
authorlink = Pierre Berton
coauthors =
title =
publisher = Doubleday Canada Limited
date = 1997
location = Toronto
pages =300-312
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 0-385-25662-0] There, de Gaulle was cheered enthusiastically, while the new Governor General Roland Michener was booed by the same crowd. In his speech, de Gaulle spoke of his country’s "evolving" ties with Quebec, hinting at his support for Quebec separatism.

The following day de Gaulle arrived in Montreal and was driven up the Chemin du Roy to the Hôtel de Ville (where Mayor Jean Drapeau and Premier Johnson waited). The crowd was electrified - excited to see the legendary French leader in person.

The speech

De Gaulle was not scheduled to speak that evening, but the crowd chanted for him; he told Mayor Jean Drapeau, “I have to speak to those people who are calling for me.” According to a number of personal interviews with high-ranking French officials as well as documents he uncovered, prominent scholar Dale C. Thomson wrote that De Gaulle's statement was planned, and that he used it when the opportunity presented itself. [Thomson, Dale C., "Vive le Québec Libre", p. 199. (1988) Deneau Publishers ISBN 0888791518]

De Gaulle stepped out onto the balcony and gave a short address. In his address he commented that his drive down the banks of the St. Lawrence River, lined as it had been with cheering crowds, reminded him of his triumphant return to Paris after the liberation from Nazi Germany. The speech appeared to conclude with the words "Vive Montréal ! Vive le Québec !" (Long live Montreal! Long live Quebec!), but he then added, "Vive le Québec libre ! Vive le Canada français ! Et vive la France !" ("Long live free Quebec! Long live French Canada! And long live France!"). The speech was broadcast live on radio.

This statement, coming from the French head of state, was considered a serious breach of diplomatic protocol. It emboldened the Quebec sovereignty movement Fact|date=February 2007, and produced tensions between the leadership of the two countries.

A media and diplomatic uproar ensued thereafter, which resulted in de Gaulle cutting his visit to Canada short. The day after the speech de Gaulle visited Expo 67, before flying back to Paris the following morning, instead of continuing his visit on to Ottawa where he was to have met with Prime Minister of Canada, Lester B. Pearson. [cite book
last = Busby
first = Brian
authorlink = Brian Busby
coauthors =
title = Great Canadian Speeches: Words: Words that Shaped a Nation
publisher = Capella
date = 2008
location = London
pages =159
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 978-1-84193-957-5] The "Colbert" returned to France without de Gaulle aboard.cite web | title = 'Vive le Québec libre!' | work = On This Day | publisher = CBC | url = http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-73-236-1132-10/on_this_day/politics_economy/vive_quebec_libre | accessdate = 2008-01-05 ]

In repeating the slogan of a Quebec sovereigntist party, De Gaulle, in the words of "The Canadian Encyclopedia", provoked "a large diplomatic incident which forced the cancellation of his visit, initiated an incredible campaign of French interference in the domestic affairs of Canada and, above all, lent his worldwide prestige to the Québec independence movement."cite web | title = De Gaulle and "Vive le Québec Libre" | work = The Canadian Encyclopedia | date = 2008 |url = http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Params=A1ARTFET_E53 | accessdate = 2008-01-05]

Reaction

The crowd's reaction to de Gaulle's phrase was emotional, and has been described as frenzied.
Federalist Canadians, on the other hand, were outraged at the implied threat to Canada's territorial integrity and took the words to be an insult to the thousands of Canadians who had fought and died on the battlefields of France during two World Wars. The Canadian media harshly criticized the statement, and in a brief speech broadcast the following evening, Prime Minister Pearson, a World War I veteran and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said that "Canadians do not need to be liberated. Indeed, many thousands of Canadians gave their lives in two world wars in the liberation of France and other European countries."cite web | title = 'Vive le Québec libre!' | work = On This Day | publisher = CBC | url = http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-73-236-1132-10/on_this_day/politics_economy/vive_quebec_libre | accessdate = 2008-01-05 ]

The newly appointed Canadian minister of justice, Pierre Trudeau, publicly wondered what the French reaction would be if a Canadian Prime Minister shouted “Brittany to the Bretons.” From then on, De Gaulle remained unimpressed by Trudeau, saying "Nous n'avons aucune concession, ni même aucune amabilité, à faire à M. Trudeau, qui est l'adversaire de la chose française au Canada." ("We have no concessions to make, nor even any friendliness towards Mr. Trudeau, who is the adversary of French matters in Canada.")cite web | last = Chartier | first = Jean | title = De Gaulle s'était adressé aux Québécois dès 1940 | publisher = vigile.net | date = 1997-07-23 | url = http://www.vigile.net/pol/nation/chartier1940.html| accessdate = 2008-01-05]

De Gaulle was also heavily criticized by a large part of the French media for his breach of international protocol. [Alain Peyrefitte, "C'était de Gaulle III", p.391 to 496. (2000) éditions de Fallois/Fayard]

To members of the Quebec sovereignty movement, meanwhile, the speech was viewed as a watershed moment and has been commonly referenced ever since Fact|date=February 2007. Occurring soon after the Quiet Revolution, and taking into account the low economic and political state of French Canadians at the time, the support of a foreign head of state seemed to add credibility to the movement in the eyes of manyFact|date=February 2007. The event occurred two years before the FLQ terrorist attacks, and nine years before the Parti québécois gained control of the Quebec National Assembly.

In the following year, De Gaulle visited Brittany, where he declaimed a poem written by his uncle (also called Charles de Gaulle) in the Breton language, expressing devotion to Breton culture. The speech followed a series of crackdowns on Breton nationalism. De Gaulle was drowned out by the cat-calls from crowd when he spoke his uncle's words. He was accused of double standards for on the one hand demanding a "free" Quebec because of its linguistic differences from English speaking Canada, while on the other oppressing the movement in Brittany. [Peter Berresford Ellis, "The Celtic Dawn", Constable, London, 1993, pp. 62.]

The decision to use the slogan

In his book, Dr. Thomson wrote that before boarding the "Colbert", de Gaulle told Xavier Deniau: "They will hear me over there, it will make waves!" A week earlier, he confided to his son-in-law General Alain de Boissieu that "I will hit hard. Hell will happen, but it has to be done. It's the last occasion to repent for France's cowardice," referring to what he viewed as France's abandonment of 60,000 French colonists to the British after France was defeated in the French and Indian War in 1763.

On the trip home, he told Bernard Dorin, "What happened was a historical phenomenon that may have been foreseeable, but which took a shape that only the event could provide. Of course, I could, like many others, get away from it by uttering some courtesies or diplomatic sidesteps, but when one is Général de Gaulle, one does not get away with those kind of expedients. What I did, I had to do it."

Excerpts

* [http://archives.radio-canada.ca/IDC-0-17-209-1048-21/inoubliables/politique_economie/gaulle_quebec_libre Video of the whole speech on SRC.ca]
* [http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-73-236-1132-10/on_this_day/politics_economy/vive_quebec_libre Video Recording]
* [http://www.ina.fr/archivespourtous/index.php?vue=notice&from=fulltext&full=vive+le+quebec+libre&num_notice=1&total_notices=4 Longer video of the visit, starting with the arrival of the "Colbert"]

See also

* List of speeches
* History of Quebec
* Quiet revolution
* Rassemblement pour l'Indépendance Nationale
* Gaullism

Notes

External links

* [http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/article.php3?id_article=128&var_recherche=Qu%E9bec De Gaulle and Quebec] fr