Province of Quebec

 

1. Province of Quebec

Quebec has an area of 1 700 000 km2 and is three times as big as France and five times as big as Japan. From south to north, Quebec extends over slightly more than 17 degrees of latitude, and more than 22 degrees of longitude. Population density is low, i.e. 4.7 inhabitants per square kilometre. This figure is scarcely significant given the immensity of the territory and the very sparse population in northern Quebec (only 35 000 inhabitants). Nearly 80% of Quebecers live near the shores of the Saint Lawrence River.

In the south, the climate is temperate. There are four distinct seasons, a mild spring, an often hot summer, a colourful but occasionally chilly autumn, and a snowy, cold winter that Quebecers have mastered. Inhabited areas border on hardwood and mixed forests. Farther north, gradually dwindling coniferous forests are the dominant vegetation. The extreme northern portion of the territory is subject to the rigours of the Arctic climate.

Quebec’s vast territory encompasses more than 1 million lakes and waterways. The biggest watercourse is the Saint Lawrence River, which crosses Quebec from west to east, covering some 1 000 km, before it flows into the Atlantic.

St-Lawrence river

The Saint Lawrence River is one of the most important rivers in North America. From its source in the Great Lakes, it flows through a vast estuary and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the Atlantic. Roughly 1 200 km in length, it is one of the leading navigable waterways of the world and the main river route in North America.

The mighty Saint Lawrence is 65 km wide in its estuary. It is a veritable gateway to the heart of the North American continent and marks the boundary between the United States and Canada over a distance of about 200 km.

In Canada, the river is navigable over its entire length. The Saint Lawrence Seaway was inaugurated in 1959. It links the Atlantic Ocean and the huge Great Lakes basin, thus opening up 3 800 km of navigable waterway. Moreover, it makes it possible to reach the Prairies in the west and leading industrial centers in Canada and the United States.

The Saint Lawrence is a lifeline for flora, fauna and human life. In several locations, it forms shallow lakes. It stretches into sea grass beds and marshes and inundates riparian forests. Almost all waterways in the inhabited regions in Quebec, i.e. more than 100 tributaries, drain into the Saint Lawrence.

The river can be divided into three main sections:

• the river itself (from Lake Ontario to Lac Saint-Pierre);

• the estuary (up to Pointe-des-Monts);

• the gulf (up to the Cabot Strait) .

Tides become apparent at Lac Saint-Pierre, but are significant abreast of Quebec City.

Tides are regular, periodic movements of the sea. The attraction of the sun and the moon cause the sea to rise and fall twice a day in the same spot. The moon appears to exercise gravitational attraction on ocean water, causing a swelling that spreads over the surface of the oceans. The sun’s gravitational attraction is much weaker because of its distance from the earth.

The narrowing of the estuary and a reduction in the depth of the bottom increases the size of the tide as it moves toward Quebec City. One feature of the tides in the estuary is that the water level rises faster than it falls.

History overview

Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, the river was the focal point of the lives of the continent’s first inhabitants. Indeed, the Amerindians regarded it as a benevolent deity. They established their villages on its shores, lived on fish, hunted the birds and mammals that inhabited the river’s shores, and traveled on its waters.

In the 17th century, the Saint Lawrence River became a major navigation route for Europeans. The first settlements in New France were located on its shores.

While the Saint Lawrence has fostered the development of modern-day Quebec, it has also placed it at the fore front of hazards. Everything from the urban waste of the first colony to paper mill effluent, organic fertilizers and liquid industrial toxic waste are contributing to the river's deterioration.

An array of scientific studies, public education programs and events have taken place since the 1960s and have resulted in concrete measures.

The Quebec water purification program, for which the ministère des Affaires municipales has been responsible since 1994, is intended to enable 98% of Quebecers served by sewerage systems to treat waste water by the time the program winds up on December 31, 1999.

Under the municipal water purification program, the Societé; québécoise d’assainissement des eaux, established in 1980, is carrying out various mandates pertaining to the construction, financing and operation of water purification facilities. It is also engaged in work related to sewers, water research and the treatment of drinking water.

In 1988, Canada launched the St. Lawrence River Action Plan, with which Quebec is associated. The second phase of the plan, dubbed « St. Lawrence Vision 2000 » centre on an ecosystem-based approach. In addition to reducing toxic liquid waste discharged into the river, it is seeking to preserve and restore natural habitats.

The river, its beauty and its importance as a natural environment are being rediscovered.

 

The armouries

The Quebec coat of arms was granted by Queen Victoria in 1868 and was modified by the Quebec government in 1939. On the shield: - three gold fleurs-de-lis on a blue field, a reminder of the political system in New France; - a lion passant guardant or, symbol of the British Crown and a reminder of the country’s second political system; - a sprig of 3 leaves of sugar maple tree veined, which evokes one of Quebec’s key natural products. Under the shield on a scroll appears the motto "Je me souviens" (I remember).

Quebec's motto

The motto of Quebec has appeared officially at the bottom of Quebec’s coat of arms since 1939, but was in use as far back as 1883, the product of the imagination and the initiative of the designer of the Parliament Building

Eugène-Étienne Taché intended to place the province’s coat of arms above the main door of the Parliament Building, and to inscribe under it a motto of his own: "Je me souviens" (I remember). He prepared his plans accordingly, and they were appended to the building contract signed on February 9, 1883 under an executive order-in-council dated January 22 of the same year. The Quebec government thereby "ratified" the motto created by Eugène-Étienne Taché.

The coat of arms above the main door of the Parliament Building is, however, not the one designed by Taché. The base of the main tower underwent major repairs in the early 1960s, and the coat of arms that had been there since the façade was built, in the mid-1880s, was unfortunately replaced with the coat of arms in use since 1939.

What does the motto "Je me souviens" mean? Several authors have sought the true import of what is perhaps too simple a sentence

André Duval read it as the response of a French-Canadian subject to the motto of the Marquess of Lorne, Governor General of Canada, which can be seen in the hall of the Parliament Building: "Ne obliviscaris" (Be careful not to forget). Conrad Laforte believed that Taché was inspired by the Canadian errant of Antoine Gérin-Lajoie: "Va, dis à mes amis/Que je me souviens d’eux" (Go tell my friends/That I remember them). These recent interpretations (1970) seem to have nothing in common with those that were current at the turn of the century among the contemporaries of the creator of the motto and that were more likely to have fueled his thoughts, unfortunately never put down on paper.

Judge Jetté, in a speech in 1890, evoked the feeling of Canadians when the French flag reappeared on the river in 1855: "Oui, je me souviens, ce sont nos gens" (Yes, I remember, these are our people). According to Pierre-Georges Roy, this motto reflects "clearly the past, the present and the future of the only French province in the Canadian Confederation". The opinion of Ernest Gagnon also deserves consideration, for he was the secretary of the Department of Public Works at the time and knew Taché well. In an appendix to the Department’s annual report, Gagnon wrote that the motto admirably summarized "la raison d’être du Canada de Champlain et de Maisonneuve comme province distincte dans la Confédération" (the raison d’être of the Canada of Champlain and Maisonneuve as a distinct province in the Confederation).

Gagnon’s interpretation is probably very close to Taché’s intentions. In designing the decoration of the Parliament Building, Taché wanted to render homage to the men and women who marked the history of Quebec There is probably no need to delve deeper into the matter. This entire building is a monument dedicated to the history of Quebec and, through the motto, Taché sought simply to express in a few words what he planned to immortalize in stone, wood and bronze.