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Federalism and Rootedness

A recent op-ed for the National Post offers interesting insights into how young Quebecois view Canadian Federalism. Adam Daifallah writes that [t]he francophone students I encountered at law school were generally confident, proud people who, while firmly attached to Quebec, were not strongly motivated by the sovereignist cause. It would be inaccurate to say they […]

A recent op-ed for the National Post offers interesting insights into how young Quebecois view Canadian Federalism. Adam Daifallah writes that

[t]he francophone students I encountered at law school were generally confident, proud people who, while firmly attached to Quebec, were not strongly motivated by the sovereignist cause. It would be inaccurate to say they felt a strong attachment to Canada. […] But I never got the impression that there was a burning desire to forge ahead with the sovereignist project and hours of discussions confirmed this. Indeed, I only encountered one student who openly admitted he would take up arms and was willing to die for Quebec sovereignty. […] [They] don’t hold grudges toward English Canada. Like many young people today, they are less attached to borders and the concept of nationality in general. With the rise of the Internet and social networking websites, the link between language and culture and territory has been broken. One can correspond, watch and read news and live in French just about anywhere now, not just on Quebec territory.

Daifallah assumes that this declining sense of place among Quebecois may be good news for the Canadian union. But a federal republic of member states without strong identities—rooted in real territory—will quickly cease to be a compound republic. A sense of identity among citizens as more than mere inhabitants of member states must also be equally felt; as soon as it becomes asymmetrical, as in the case of Quebec, the federation is doomed.

Rootedness has declined everywhere. But given the need for it to be mutually felt in a federation, a robust federalism is always a fragile enterprise, and perhaps expecting healthy federations to last for scores of generations is unreasonable. (Switzerland excepted, of course.)

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