One of the most curious political sagas in North America is the position of the largely French speaking Quebec Province within the Canadian Federation. Quebecans narrowly voted against going it alone in a referendum nearly two decades ago. But despite resisting Independence back then, the signs are there that Quebecans will never be completely at ease within the Canadian Confederation. Even if Quebec continues to resist any temptation to completely break free from the rest of Canada, surely that distinctive identity needs to be recognised somehow.
Perhaps it is time for Quebecans to draw inspiration from across the North Atlantic at the United Kingdom. There are now Devolved Assemblies or Parliaments in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. This is arguably very similar to the Parliaments in the Canadian Provinces. However, the Nations of the United Kingdom do also enjoy elements of a distinct identity through sport. On the one hand, the four nations do compete together in the Olympics as Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Scottish Tennis player Andy Murray does officially represent Great Britain. But on the other hand the home nations do also compete individually across a number of sports.
One of those sports is Football. The British Home Nations are not the only examples of non-sovereign countries taking their place in FIFA, World Football's governing body. The Faroe Islands have been FIFA members since 1988. They are still officially part of the Danish realm, despite voluntarily reducing their subsidy from Denmark in recent years. Despite ceasing to be a British Overseas Territory in 1997, Hong Kong still retains it's own National Football Team despite now being part of China.
Of course, the best topical example of a non-sovereign country becoming part of the International Football Family is the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, who were formally accepted into UEFA (European Football's Governing Body) earlier this year. Ironically, Gibraltar's accession into UEFA has been during a year in which Britain's ongoing dispute with Spain over the territory has been heated at times.
So back to Quebec. If Quebec continues to stay within the Canadian Confederation, should the Quebecans become FIFA members? As a football fan, I say why not!
Andy, our soccer team is horrible enough as it is! We need all the help we can get. If Quebec wants to go it alone in sport the arena to do that in is hockey. That would really rock the established order in that sport as Canada and Quebec, even separate, would still be two of the top teams in the world.
ReplyDeleteSports aside, Quebec already enjoys a a very distinct identity within Canada, having control over a number of powers that the Welsh or Scots could only dream of: natural resources, immigration, language, education, health, significant taxation powers and a number of trade powers as well. They haven't even signed onto our constitution, which often causes some headaches in Canadian politics. In some ways the whole battle for a separate Quebec is almost passe as they have so much of what they've asked, and most people have moved onto other political debates. The recent push has been led by the separatist PQ not to actually achieve independence, but simply to prove their party's own relevance.
BTW people from Quebec are generally referred to as Quebeckers if you mean them all in a general sense, or Quebecois if you are specifically referring to the French population. Then you get into the whole split of Francophones (French speakers), Anglophones (English speakers) and Allophones (recent immigrants).