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1995 Quebec Sovereignty Referendum
Up to the 1950's, French Canadian identity revolved around the  French language and Roman Catholicism]] in Quebec, articulated by clerical intellectuals like Lionel Groulx and conservative politicians such as Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis. A Quebec separatist or indépendiste movement emerged in the early 1960's during the Quiet Revolution, a period of rapid reform by Jean Lesage's Liberal government. French-speaking Quebecers identity shifted to a progressive Quebecois nationalism based on the Quebec state, the French language and social democracy.

In 1968, former Liberal cabinet minister René Lévesque quit the Liberal party to advocate for Sovereignty-Association, where an independent Quebec would maintain links to Canada through  the Canadian dollar and the Canadian Armed Forces. He would quickly merge his Mouvement Souveraineté-Association with the more hardline nationalist Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale to form the Parti Québécois (PQ), win the Quebec election of 1976 and hold a losing referendum on sovereignty in 1980. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who campaigned vigorously against for the "No" side of the referendum with a promise of patriating the Constititon from Great Britain, would enshrine the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the Constitution Act, 1982 over the objections of Lévesque, who demanded more federal powers transferred to Quebec.

In 1987, the Meech Lake Accord brokered by the Conservative government of Brian Mulroney attempted to satisfy Quebec's demands with a Constitutional amendment that would also include an interpretive clause recognizing Quebec's "distinct society". The failure of three provinces to ratify the Accord by the 1990 deadline was widely viewed by French-speaking majority in Quebec as a rejection of Quebec's culture and language. Support for sovereignty soared to record levels well above 50%. Conservative Cabinet Minister Lucien Bouchard angrily left the Conservative caucus to form the sovereigntist Bloc Quebecois, and would take 52 of 75 Quebec seats in the 1993 Canadian federal election with 49% of the popular vote and form the official opposition. Bouchard proposed a new negotiated economic partnership between a sovereign Quebec and Canada similar to the European Union. Provincially, Jacques Parizeau, a former PQ Cabinet Minister in René Lévesque government, would lead the PQ back into government in 1994 and quickly set about organizing a referendum on sovereignty for 1995. Parizeau favored a hardline unilateral declaration of independence and a clean break with Canada. The two leaders agreed to a compromise position for the referendum: Bouchard would be given one year to negotiate a new deal with Canada following a referendum victory; Parizeau would declare UDI if negotiations failed.

By the beginning 1995, support for sovereignty

Antisemitism and Quebec nationalism
Lucien Bouchard