Culture of Quebec

The culture of Quebec emerged over the last few hundred years, resulting predominantly from the shared history of the French-speaking North American majority in Quebec. Québécois culture, as a whole, constitutes all distinctive traits – spiritual, material, intellectual and affective – that characterize Québécois society. This term encompasses the arts, literature, institutions and traditions created by Québécois, as well as the collective beliefs, values and lifestyle of Québécois. It is a culture of 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. As of 2006, 79% of all Quebecers list French as their mother tongue;^[1] since French is the official language in the province, up to 95% of all residents speak French.^[2] The 2001 census showed the population to be 90.3 percent Christian (in contrast to 77 percent for the whole country) with 83.4 percent Catholic (including 83.2 percent Roman Catholic).^[3]

History made Quebec a place where people can experience North America, but from the point of view of a linguistic minority surrounded by a larger English-speaking culture. This enclaved status has pushed many in Quebec to favour cultural protectionism, which can be seen in efforts such as the adoption of laws like of the Charter of the French Language and the creation of government institutions like the Office québécois de la langue française. The Encyclopædia Britannica describes contemporary Quebec political 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-sovereignty/separatist continuum. The Quiet Revolution also turned Quebec from the most religious province into the most secular.

Quebec has been strongly influenced by Early modern France as it was part of New France. Interactions with France today can also be impactful (see Vive le Québec libre!). The province has been strongly influenced by British culture as a result of the Conquest of New France and subsequent centuries spent as part of the British Empire and under the British monarchy. Quebec has received a Celtic influence because of past immigrants from Ireland and Scotland. English-speaking Canadians (called "Anglais" or "Anglo") of other provinces, especially of nearby provinces like Ontario, as well as those inside Quebec, continue to influence Québécois today. Quebec is strongly influenced by American culture because of geographical and affective proximity. For historical and linguistic reasons, Quebec has cultural links with other North American French-speaking communities, particularly with the Acadians and Franco-Ontarian communities in Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario. Quebec has links -but to a lesser extent- to francophone communities in Western Canada, the Cajun French revival movements in Louisiana, Haiti and the French Antilles. Influences from First Nations are reflected in Québécois activities including snowshoeing and maple syrup production.