AFTER UNITY

Specific Outcomes

By studying the articles related to this question you will be able to:

• identify the challenges in settling the current unity debate
• understand the nature of Canadian federalism
• understand some of the issues important to Canada's aboriginal people
• identify new and persistent challenges facing Canada should the current unity debate be settled.

Setting the Stage

Before reading the articles look at the introduction to the Question:

• What has Quebec's role been in Canada? Why has that role been such a subject for debate in the past fifty years?
• Based on what you know, how would you answer the questions in the introduction to this Great Canadian Question? What new challenges are there for Canada to tackle?
• Are your answers confirmed or refuted by the readings?

Reading for Understanding

Questions for Guy Laforest's first article:

• "If one had to write a book on political tragedy in the twentieth century, the pages about Canada would be few and far between." Why does Laforest say this?
• What is the great Canadian paradox?
• How has Quebec simultaneously fuelled and choked the reform engine in Canada since 1945, according to Laforest?
• Why should Canadians examine seriously the nature and state of their federal institutions if the unity question is successfully resolved?
• What was the significance of the Supreme Court of Canada's decision last year on the question of Quebec succession?
• What influences have the Constitutional Acts of 1867 and 1982 had on Canadian federalism?
• According to Laforest, "modernising institutions to make them compatible with the spirit of federalism should occupy centre stage." What reforms does he propose? Why?

Questions for Ovide Mercredi's first article:

• What is Mercredi's inclusionary scenario for a future Canada after the unity question?
• What is his exclusionary scenario?
• Why does Mercredi state that aboriginal peoples view the country differently than others?
• What challenges does he see in Canada fulfilling an inclusionary scenario?
• What are some of the consequences if an inclusionary Canada is not achieved?

Questions for Guy Laforest's second article:

• What does Laforest mean when he says of Bouchard and Chrétien, "Their dance symbolises our political impotence"?
• What other tasks would be worthy for Canadians to pursue, in addition to reforming Canadian federalism, after the unity question has been settled? Why does he think these challenges worthy of pursuit?
• What might prevent Canada from ever getting beyond the unity question?
• Does Laforest think there will ever be a "day after"? Why or why not?
• What is meant by the following analogy? "Quebec is to Canada as Kosovo is to Serbia"? Is the analogy a perfect one? Why or why not?

Questions for Ovide Mercredi's second article:

• What does Mercredi mean when he says that "national unity per se must take a back seat to the needs of the people"?
• What are the needs of Canada's aboriginal peoples, according to Mercredi?
• To what extent are the needs of Canada's aboriginal people common to the needs of other Canadians?
• "It is the day after national unity: What needs to be done?"
• "Is unity too exacting for you?"

Critical Comparisons

• To what parts of Mercredi's argument in the first essay does Laforest respond?
• To what parts of Laforest's argument in the first essay does Mercredi respond?
• How would you characterise the extent to which each author has responded to the other in specific terms? What might this tell you about the state of Canadian unity?
• On what points do they agree?
• On what points do they disagree?
• Where do you stand and why on the issue of what Canada's priorities should be in the days after unity?
• What evidence is especially important in your conclusions?