The avian emblem of Quebec is the snowy owl.
At least 13,000 men were prepared to go to war as a declaration of independence was read at Napierville to a crowd of several thousand in 1838. The Patriotes, however were defeated after battles at Camp Baker (Sainte-Martine), Lacolle, Odelltown, and Beauharnois. In 1844 however, the Canadien Patriotes were pardoned and those with enough money for their passage were allowed to return.
Support for an even greater confederation was strengthened by events such as the Battle of Ridgeway, an invasion into Ontario by some 1500 U.S.-based Irish Fenian nationalists, an attack repulsed largely by local militia.
The conservative government of Maurice Duplessis and his Union Nationale dominated Quebec politics from 1944 to 1960 with the support of the Catholic church. Pierre Trudeau and other intellectuals and liberals formed an intellectual opposition to Duplessis' repressive regime setting the groundwork for the Quiet Revolution under Jean Lesage's Liberals. The Quiet Revolution was a period of dramatic social and political change that saw the decline of the Roman Catholic Church's influence, the nationalization of Hydro Quebec and the emergence of a separatist movement under former Lesage minister René Lévesque.
Quebec is at once a North American society and the main French-speaking society on the continent. Montréal, the vibrant cosmopolitan metropolis of Quebec, is the second largest francophone city after Paris. History made Quebec a place where cultures meet, where people from all over the world experience America, but from a little distance and through a different eye.
This was formalised in 1867 through Canadian Confederation: the British North America Act (Section 3) created "One Dominion under the Name of Canada," or "une seule et même Puissance sous le nom de Canada" in French (which until 1982 had no constitutional equality with English as a text). The word "dominion" in "Dominion of Canada" is usually translated with the English loan-word dominion in French, but French really has no equivalent.
The Acadians virtually disappeared from history for a century after the Grand Dérangement, but they survived and experienced a minor cultural and political revolution in the 1880s.
The Quebec Ombudsman is a governmental institution responsible for handling complaints from individuals, companies and associations who believe the government of Quebec or any of its branches has made an error or treated them unjustly. The Ombudsman has certain powers defined by the Public Protector Act. The Quebec Ombudsman has a social contract with Quebecers to ensure the transparency of the state.
Quebec City was founded near the site of Stadacona, a village populated by Iroquoians when Jacques Cartier explored Canada. However, the village was no longer there when Samuel de Champlain established the Habitation de Quebec in 1608.
The Wyandot were able to maintain stores and provisions, and were comparatively wealthy. They engaged in extensive trade with neighboring tribes, and even with tribes from as far south as the lower Mississippi.
In 1847 an epic poem by American writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, was loosely based on the events surrounding the 1755 deportation. The poem became an American classic. Robbie Robertson wrote a popular song based on the Acadian Expulsion titled "Acadian Driftwood" that appeared on The Band's 1975 album, Northern Lights - Southern Cross.
Quebec does not recognise the Labrador boundary drawn by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1927. See The Labrador boundary dispute.
The vast territory of Quebec is divided into 17 administrative regions. Inside the regions, there are municipalities and regional county municipalities (RCMs).
The floral emblem of Quebec is the blue flag iris (Iris versicolor). It was formerly the Madonna lily, to recall the fleur-de-lis, but has been changed to the iris which is native to Quebec.
The multimedia sector is quite strong and even stronger since the arrival of Electronic Arts in 2003. Notably, Montreal is home to two major creators of 3D animation software: Softimage and Discreet. The computer services, software development, and consulting branch employs 60,000 specialized workers.