Linguistic Stakes in Quebec: Power Relations and Citizen Engagement since the 1960s

The issue of French as the language of public use in Quebec has created tension and conflict for many decades. An inescapable historical reality, the language issue has re-emerged dramatically, and sometimes violently, since the 1960s as a product of citizen activism. Faced with these tensions, the State of Quebec has legislated to promote the use of French in the public sphere. This article offers an analytical overview of the language issue in Quebec. It adopts a political perspective in order to identify the causes that led to citizen mobilisation on the question of language and the strategies that the government has adopted to manage this social debate.