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Quebec Indépendantistes

IndÃ©pendantistes du QuÃ©bec

Patriotic Flag before 1837
Rebellion of 1837-39 in Lower Canada (Québec)
Patriotic Flags after 1839
Proposals for a flag of Quebec in the 20th Century
Political parties and movements from 1960 onwards :

See also:

Patriotic flag before 1837-39

by Luc-Vartan Baronian

Description
Proportions 1:2 and 2:3 are seen.
Horizontal green-white-red, sometimes seen with a yellow star, near the hoist in the green stripe.
The green represents the Irish in the ranks of the Patriotes. The flag in its whole is a revolutionary flag (it was adopted in the early 1800s).
Use of the flag
The addition of the star seems to be of this century.
The original flag was used by the Parti Patriote, a mainly French-Canadian party, but that also had many Irish members and some English members. This flag was banned by the British authorities, after the 1837-1839 revolution in Lower Canada (actual Quebec).
In the '60s and '70s it was used by the FLQ. It even flew in Alger (Algeria!) where an FLQ branch was officially recognized and financed by the government.
Today it is seen in many nationalist manifestations and in commemorations of the Patriotes. A new party, the MNLQ (Mouvement National de Liberation du Quebec) founded by the ex-leader of the Algeria faction of the FLQ uses the starred version. (It is considered an extremist party).
NB : If you're ever in Montreal, visit the Musee du Chateau Ramezay ; you will see the Patriote flag of the St-Eustache battle (it has a fish, maple leaves, etc..).
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 14 March 1997

This flag (without star) was used during rebellion the led by Louis-Joseph Papineau in 1837-1838 to establish a republic in the by-then Lower Canada, which corresponds to the Province of Quebec now.
Michel Simard - 30 September 1998

Patriotic Flags after 1839

Gifs by Jaume Olle from the article "Flags of Quebec" by François Beaudoin, FLAG BULLETIN, Vol. XXIII, No. 5 / 107, September-October 1984, pgs. 149-163.

These flags are based on the French tricolore.
Until the 1837-1839 rebellion, green-white-red horizontals were very popular in Lower Canada.
After the rebellion, the British banned the use of such flags, therefore French-Canadians started looking for new identifying flags. Variations on the French tricolore became the most popular choice in the second half of the XIXth century in what was now known as Quebec (since 1867). These flags had the advantage of being tolerated by the British authorities because of the alliance between France and the UK in the Crimean war against Russia from 1853 to 1871.
Here are diffrent variations with traditional French-Canadian symbols : maple leaves, beavers, the sacred heart.

by Jaume Ollé

Association Saint Jean Baptiste

by Jaume Ollé

In 1842, The Association Saint Jean Baptiste (today Société Saint Jean Baptiste) displayed on St John the Baptist Day, a Patriote flag with a beaver on the white stripe and a St John the Baptist.
This was just a few years after the rebellion, so many loyalists (Beaudoin says anglophones) protested against the use of this flag.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 23 March 1997

by Jaume Ollé

The Association looked for a new flag. A two vertical equal stripes of green and white was used by the Association on St John Baptist Day until 1888 in the region of Quebec City. (Two other proposals were the French Tricolor and a plain white French Royalist flag).
Also, in 1844, a flag of blue and white was raised by the Society in Longueuil on the South Shore of Montreal. It was the Tricolor with the red torn off ; many French-Canadians felt that the Tricolor was too revolutionary, specially members of the St-Jn-Bte Society who are still a bit too catholic-folkloric to my taste.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 23 March 1997

by Jaume Ollé

In 1862, the Association Saint Jean Baptiste of Charlesbourg, near Quebec, was presented with a white flag with green maple leaves in the center.
This is the third white flag I mention ; showing a small tendency in that period to support the restoration of the Monarchy in France.
This could be explained by the fact that the Quebec of that time was still controlled by the church, but one must remember the (greater) popularity of the French Tricolor. Also, that the first nationalist flags of green-white-red, eagles and stars had that American-French revolutionary element. The Patriotes prowned a laic government and equality for all citizens, Canadians, British and Indians. (This is even mentioned in their Declaration of Independance of Lower Canada read by their "President of the Republic", Robert Nelson, an Irish-Canadien.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 23 March 1997

Proposals for a flag of Quebec in the 20th Century

Proposal of 1900

by Jaume Ollé

Proposed by the newspaper Le débat on 4 March 1900.
(I know this is not the 20th century - ed.)
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 20 March 1997

Proposal of 1902

by Jaume Ollé

Luc-Vartan Baronian - 20 March 1997

Proposal of 1902 - the Carillon Flag

by Jaume Ollé

Designed by Abbot Ephège Filiatreault who called it the Drapeau de Carillon. It was first hoisted in September 1902 at the St Jude presbytery of St-Hyacinthe. The fleur de lys were white or gold on the first version, but they have been white ever since.

by Jaume Ollé

This refered to a flag from the French Regime that was thought as being the flag of the Canadiens volounteers (not the French Royal troops) during the last victory of the French over the British at the Battle of Carillon on July 8th, 1758. It turns out that that flag was just a religious banner.
Nevertheless, the flag designed by Abbot Filiatreault quickly gained popularity as the National French-Canadian flag and is the ancestor of the actual fleur-de-lis. In fact, the Drapeau de Carillon was often referred to as the fleur-de-lis flag, even in the Order in Council on the adoption of the present flag :

" That the flag generally known as the "fleur-de-lisé" flag, that is to say the flag with the white cross on a sky-blue ground and with the fleur-de-lis, be adopted as the official flag for the Province of Quebec and be raised on the central tower of the Parliament Buildings, at Quebec, and such with the following modification, to wit : THAT the "lis" on the flag be placed in a vertical position."

Luc-Vartan Baronian - 25 March 1997

Proposal of 1903 - the Carillon-Sacré-Coeur

by Timothy Boronczyk

In 1903, a study comitee added a Sacred Heart to the precedent flag. This new flag was known as the Carillon-Sacré-Coeur. Many, including the creator of the original flag, disliked the religious element that had been added.
So, both versions were used in nationalist events in Canada and the USA for the first half of the XXth century.
On 11 November 1926, the government of Quebec recognized the Carillon-Sacré-Coeur as the flag of the Société Saint Jean Baptiste.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 25 March 1997

In 1902 Abbé Elphège Filatrault hoisted over his presbytery in St.Hyacinth a version of the Carillon flag--a flag of blue with white fleur-de-lis placed in each corner pointing to the centre-- traversed by a white cross. It was enthusiastically received and led to the formation of committees to propose a nation flag for French-Canadians.
In 1903, the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus above two wreaths of maple leaves in saltire, was placed in the centre of the white cross.
The Sacred Heart image derives from the devotions fo the heart of Jesus, initiated by the French visionary nun, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. This Catholic practive had increased considerably by the 200th anniversary of her death in 1890. The new flag of the Canadiens came to be called their national flag and was raised in western Canada as well as in Québec.
In 1935, the journal ACTION NATIONALE argued for the suppression of the religous emblem. The desire arose for a simple fleur-de-lis flag.
Efforts by Quebeckers (Québécois) in 1945 and 1946 to get the Canadian government to adopt a distinctive national flag (un drapeau véritablement canadien) for Canada were unsuccessful, so they lobbied their own government to take action. In 1948, an official flag was proclaimed by Order-in-Council of the Québec government. The flag, generally called the 'fleurdelisé flag,; bears a white cross on a sky blue field and with a white fleur-de-lis i each corner modified so that each fleur-de-lis is placed in a verticle position. The flag's official proportions are six by four. The arms of the cross are one unit wide. In 1952, the Québec legislature approved the flag. The tone of the blue has darkened over the years. Could this be a further attempt to secularize the flag?
Whereas the older flags mentioned above were flown by French-Canadians throughout Canada, Québec's flag is specific to Québec. Acadians and other francophonegroups in Canada have developed their own flags.
excerpt from: Harrington, Kevin, "The Name, Colours, and Symbols of Québec," _NAVA News, January/February 1998.

The Carillon-Sacre-Coeur Timothy posted uses the wrong style of fleur de lys.
This style is used on the present Quebec flag and didn't exist back then.
More than a year ago, Jaume made a GIF which I posted with minor corrections.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 19 May 1998

Anyway, Timothy's rendering of the Sacred Heart, and his use of the lighter Blue, as mentioned in the text, merit the inclusion of his drawing in stead of the previous one - Editor.

by Jaume Ollé and Luc-Vartan Baronian

Other variations were sometimes seen, here : statue of Sacred Heart of Montreal and a maple leaf.

note : Jaume had made yellow lys on many flags when they should've been white. I believe this is due to an ambiguity in Beaudoin's text. He mentions that the first Carillon had 4 white or gold lys. However, (even if they were gold) the flag that was then used always had white lys, and its variations too.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 25 March 1997

Proposals of 1904

by Jaume Ollé and Luc-Vartan Baronian

The first variation of the Carillon above was proposed by Abbot A. Baillargé in 1904. It has the Arms of Quebec as represented at the time at the entrance of the Parliament's Building in Quebec.
note: I inversed the colours on the chief, as they should be on the 1868 Arms of Quebec.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 26 March 1997

Proposal of 1908

by Jaume Ollé

Official flag hoisted at the tricentennial of Quebec city in 1908 White cross on azur with 5 gold fleur de lys in each quarter.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 21 March 1997

Proposal of 1911

by Jaume Ollé

Proposal for a French-Canadian flag by Abbot A. Baillargé.
White, with a beaver over 3 gold fleur de lys surrounded by green maple leaves.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 21 March 1997

Proposals of 1920

by Jaume Ollé

Proposal by the poet Louis Frechette, in the newspaper La Presse on 10 April 1920.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 20 March 1997

by Jaume Ollé

Proposal for a Quebec flag by Mr L.J.A. Derome in the La Presse newspaper of 10 April 1920. A St John the Baptist with maple leaves in the fly, the hoist divided horizontally, with 3 gold fleur de lys on azur, over a gold leopard on gules ; obviously representing the French and the English.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 21 March 1997

Proposal of 1930

by Jaume Ollé

The Action Nationale (still exists, I believe) suggested for an independent Quebec this green-white-black vertical tricolor. This was a facsist, anti-Semitist, ultra-nationalist movement, and the black of the flag represented the fascism of Mussolini in Italy.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 21 March 1997

Proposal of 1936

by Jaume Ollé

Maurice Brodeur proposed in La Nation of 9 July 1936, a flag with a white cross separating rectangles of blue at the hoist and red in the fly. In the center , a green maple leaf with a gold fleur de lys on it.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 21 March 1997

Anglophone Minority Proposals of 1947

by Jaume Ollé and Luc-Vartan Baronian

by Jaume Ollé

When Premier Duplessis wanted to adopt an official flag for Quebec, the anglophone community favored three variations shown above : one with the 1939 Arms of Quebec (which has the British crown and the English Leopard), one with a red maple leaf and one with a British crown.
note: On this first flag, it is supposed to be the 1939 Arms, so I added a 3rd lys and changed the crown Jaume shows.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 26 March 1997

Proposal of 1962

by Jaume Ollé

Dr Desmarteaux, president of the Sept-Iles section of the Rassemblement pour l'Independance Nationale, suggested for an independent Quebec, in October 1962, a flag of vertical blue and white with a white fleur de lys at the hoist.
This follows a tendency of that time to *laicisize* (?) Quebec symbols that we have already seen in other flags of that period : FLQ, Chevaliers de l'Independance.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 23 March 1997

Ralliement National pour l'Indépendance du Québec (RIN)

Flag of 1965 :

by Luc-Vartan Baronian

Description
Three vertical bands of 1:1:4, black-white-red.
Use of the flag
This flag was used in 1965. When the RIN ceased to exist in early '70s, its members were encouraged by the ex-leaders to join the Parti Quebecois whose popularity was growing. The PQ holds the power in Quebec since 1994.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 14 March 1997

Alternative versions used in the 1970's :

by Jaume Ollé - 1997

The design is a stylized ram's head.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 19 March 1997

Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ)

by Luc-Vartan Baronian

Description
Vertically equally divided in blue and white, with a red star outlined in yellow in the fly .
It seems to reproduce the colours of Quebec, without any religious or ancient French reference. The star clearly represent socialism.
Use of the flag
The FLQ was an unorganized socialist movement of workers.
They posed many bombs in the West Island (of Montreal) in the '60s. They are remembered for the kidnapping of a British diplomat, James Richard Cross, and a Quebec minister, Pierre Laporte, and the murder of the later in October 1970.
This is remembered as the October Crisis, where the federal army invaded Montreal, suspended civil rights in Quebec and arrested hundreds of people without justification.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 14 March 1997

Did the FLQ actually use this flag themselves, or was it used by FLQ supporters and sympathisers? The FLQ was a tiny underground group (or rather two or three groups that succeeded each other but adopted the same name). If such a group used a flag it would be an invitation to the police to come and get them. This goes for all groups that engage in political violence of the kind FLQ did. Being in the underground and hoisting a flag is somewhat contradictory.
Jan Oskar Engene - 20 March 1997

Excellent question. I can't say what I remember, because I wasn't born back then. The flag comes from the article by Francois Beaudoin : Flags of Quebec in The Flag Bulletin. He doesn't give more details than what I've said.
The FLQ was made of different little groups here and there that didn't really have contact with one another. Some were very well organized like the one in Algeria that I mentionned earlier, others weren't.
Funny thing, the two groups who did the kidnappings and the murder were very unorganized and very small (4 people in each case).
The fact that the Algeria group and many others used a Patriote flag, suggests that it wasn't a well-known flag, even for FLQ members... My guess is that the Flag illustrated by Beaudoin was the flag of just one of the many isolated groups. In the late 50s and early 60s, before they posed bombs, they were just a little socialist group like there was many at the time. I have even read somewhere that some of them frequented the same milieu as the futur Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau who hunted them down after the assassination of the Minister Pierre Laporte in 1970.
I hope this clears things up a little bit, I know it's not crystal clear for me yet.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 20 March 1997

I wrote about the FLQ flag in the FLAG BULLETIN in a special issue ("The Red and The Black") back in the '70s (Vol XIII, No. 3/49, May-June 1974). It was seen at demonstrations both in the US and in Montreal prior to the bombing and kidnapping episodes mentioned (c. 1968-71). Of course, no one saw it after that. Probably the FLQ itself seldom used any flag but its supporters did. I first saw reference to it in one of the "underground" papers of the late 60s.
Dave Martucci - 21 March 1997

Chevaliers de l'Indépendance (CDI)

by Luc-Vartan Baronian

Description
Black, with a red centered fleur de lys. They wore black sweaters with this emblem.
Use of the flag
I don't know much of this organization, except that it was active in the '60s.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 14 March 1997

Mouvement Souveraineté Association (MSA)

Formed in 1968, merged in 1969 with the RIN to form the Parti Quebecois, which continued to use the flag of the MSA :

Parti Quebecois (PQ)

Jaume Ollé reported that the Patriot flag was used by the PQ :

by Luc-Vartan Baronian

but :

I've never seen the horizontal tricolor green-white-red flag with the yellow star used by the Parti Québécois and I don't think the flag illustrated is actually the one of the Parti Québécois. People in that party actually always use Quebec's flag. However, the Patriotes' flag (horizontal tricolor green-white-red) is often used.
Michel Simard - 30 September 1998

Mouvement National de Libération du Québec (MNLQ)

A new party, the MNLQ (Mouvement National de Liberation du Quebec) founded by the ex-leader of the Algeria faction of the FLQ uses the starred version of the Flag of the Parti Patriote. (It is considered an extremist party).
NB : If you're ever in Montreal, visit the Musee du Chateau Ramezay ; you will see the Patriote flag of the St-Eustache battle (it has a fish, maple leaves, etc..).
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 14 March 1997

Most of my info is from Beaudoin, Flags of Quebec, an article that was in The Flag Bulletin. (Maybe someone can tell me which number, I don't know).
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 14 March 1997

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