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Monarchy in Canada

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Canada

The Crown: Monarch (Queen Elizabeth II) Monarchy in Canada

Federal: Governor General (Michaëlle Jean) Queen's Privy Council for Canada

Provincial: Monarchy in: The Canadian provinces BC | AB | SK | MB | ON | QC NB | NS | PE | NL

Lieutenant Governor of: BC | AB | SK | MB | ON | QC NB | NS | PE | NL

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As a province within Canada, Quebec uses a Westminster System of constitutional monarchy for its government, under Queen Elizabeth II as the reigning Queen of Canada since February 6, 1952. Due to Canada's federal nature, eleven legally distinct Crowns effectively exist in the country, with the Monarch being represented separately in each province, as well as at the federal level.

In Quebec, the Sovereign is represented by the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, currently Lise Thibault, since 1997.

“	I am pleased to think that there exists in our Commonwealth a country where I can express myself officially in French.[1]	”
	— Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, in Quebec City, Quebec, 1964

Contents 1 Constitutional monarchy in Quebec 1.1 Symbols 1.1.1 Titles 1.2 Official residences and offices 1.3 Royal presence 2 History 3 First Nations and the Crown 4 Royal connections 4.1 Royal designation and patronage 4.2 Armed forces 4.3 Communities 4.4 Education 5 Places of interest 6 Quebec sovereignty and the Crown 7 External links 8 References

Main articles: Monarchy in the Canadian provinces and Lieutenant Governor of Quebec

Under the Canadian constitutional monarchy system the headship of state is not a part of either the federal or provincial jurisdictions; the Queen reigns impartially over the country as a whole. Thus, Quebec has a separate government headed by the Queen; however, as a province, Quebec is not itself a monarchy.

A Lieutenant Governor is appointed by the Governor General, on the advice of the Prime Minister of Canada, to serve as the Queen's representative in the province, carrying out all the Monarch's constitutional and ceremonial duties of state on her behalf; though, as in the other Commonwealth Realms, the Monarch's role, and thereby the Vice-regal's role, is almost entirely symbolic and cultural, and the powers that are constitutionally hers are exercised wholly upon the advice of the elected government. In exceptional circumstances, however, the Monarch or vice-regal has acted against such advice based upon his or her reserve powers. All laws in Quebec are enacted with the vice-regal's signature, known as giving Royal Assent; it and proclamation are required for all acts of the provincial legislature, usually granted or withheld by the Lieutenant Governor, with the Great Seal of Quebec.

The Queen, other members of the Canadian Royal Family, and/or the Lieutenant Governor also attend various functions throughout the province and abroad, either as the host or a guest of honour. However, unlike the other Canadian provinces, there is no Throne Speech; instead a session of the National Assembly begins with the Opening Speech by the Premier.^[2]

Images of St. Edward's, the Tudor, and King's Crown are visible on military badges (see Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery badge), and the coat of arms of Quebec. Unlike other provinces, Quebec's national award, the National Order of Quebec, does not bear any royal insignia, thereby not illustrating the Monarch's place as the ceremonial head of the Canadian honours system.

The Lieutenant Governor of Quebec bears a personal flag which consists of a blue field bearing the shield of the Quebec coat of arms, surmounted by a crown, within a white disk. Along with the flag of the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, the Quebec vice-regal flag is only one of two that differs from all the others in Canada.

In Quebec, lawyers may also be appointed "King's Counsel learned in the law" or "Queen's Counsel learned in the law" under section 16 of the Act respecting the Minister of Justice.^[3] Within Quebec court rooms, it was regulated that a crier call out "Silence! The Court of Quebec is now open. All persons having business here draw near and they will be heard. God save the Queen!"^[4] That reqirement has since been repealed.^[5]

Various statues of Canadian Monarchs exist around Quebec, such as the one of Queen Victoria in Victoria Square, Montreal. Another statue of the Queen in Montreal was designed by her daughter, Princess Louise, and there is one of King Edward VII. A bust of King Louis XIV can be found in Quebec City.^[6]

Further information: National symbols of Canada  and Canadian royal symbols

Certain titles, originally established by the French King for Quebec, continue to exist and be recognised by the Canadian Monarch, such as the Baron de Longueuil. The Barony was created through Letters Patent from King Louis XIV in 1700. The current Baron, Michael Grant, does not reside in Canada, however the Baronial manor still stands in Longueuil, Quebec, though greatly reduced in size.

Originally, the residence of the Governor of New France was at the Château St-Louis, in the capital of Quebec City.

Though the Monarch's representative continues to work and reside in that city, unlike other provices, Quebec does not have an official provincial residence for the monarch or vice-regal; instead he or she holds an office and a suite of rooms for entertaining near the Parliament Building. Quebec originally did maintain a Government House, between 1870 and 1966, when the house burnt down.

Further information: Government House (Quebec)

From 1867 to 1881 Lieutenant Governors of Quebec maintained a separate working office at the Maison Sewell, after which it was moved to the old parliament buildings. It remained there until 1979 when the office moved again to the André-Laurendeau building, where all the fittings and furniture were brought to from the former location.^[7] Inside are reception rooms, offices and support facilities. The royal suite is the site of swearing-in ceremonies for Cabinet ministers, where Royal Assent is granted, and where the Lieutenant Governor receives the Premier. Whenever the Sovereign is in the provincial capital, he or she resides at a hotel.

Quebec is also the location of La Citadelle, the Canadian Monarch's and Governor General's residence, in Quebec City.

Members of the Royal Family have been visiting Quebec since before Confederation, either as a Royal tour, a Vice-regal tour, or as a "working visit" (meaning in association with a charity or military organization instead of a state affair). Royal tours were popular with Quebecers until the emergence of the Quebec sovereignty movement in the 1960s. During a visit by Queen Elizabeth II to Quebec City in 1964, protesters turned their back to the Monarch as her car drove through the streets, and during a public appearance of the Queen, a riot began where police were called in to suppress the protesters; the day became known as Samedi de la matraque (see below). Since that time, royal visits to the province have continued, though the Queen's forays into Quebec have been limited mostly to Gatineau.

• Prince Edward - 1792
• Albert Edward, The Prince of Wales - 1860
• Prince Alfred - 1861
• Prince Arthur - 1869 to 1870, 1890, 1906
• The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York - 1901
• The Duke and Duchess of Connaught and Princess Patricia - 1911-1917
• Edward, The Prince of Wales - 1919
• The Prince of Wales and Prince George - 1927
• King George Vl and Queen Elizabeth - 1939
• Princess Alice and The Earl of Athlone - 1940-1946
• Prince George, Duke of Kent - 1941
• Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother - 1958, 1962, 1964, 1974, 1987
• Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh - 1957, 1959, 1964, 1967, 1976, 1987, 1992, 2002
• The Duke of Edinburgh - 1962, 1966, 1969, 1979, 1980, 1989, 1993
• Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon - 1958
• Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales - 1975, 1976
• The Prince Andrew, Duke of York - 1976, 1989
• The Duchess of York - 1989
• Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex - 1976, 1991, 2000 (June, July)
• Princess Anne - 1974, 1976
• The Prince and Princess Michael of Kent - 1980, 1996

Further information: Royal visits to Canada

European settlement of the area that is today Quebec was begun with the 1534 claim, by Jacques Cartier, in the name of King Francis I, of an area now known as the Gaspé Peninsula. He continued to explore up the Saint Lawrence River to the areas where Montreal and Quebec City presently sit. By 1541, Jean-François de la Roque de Roberval was charged by the King as Lieutenant of New France, and given the responsibility to build a new colony in America. Attempts at permanent settlement, however, failed, until Henry V sponsored Samuel de Champlain's founding of Quebec in 1608, with six families totaling 28 people. By 1627, Champlain was installed as the first Governor General of New France, and the system was arranged in such a manner where he answered to French Secretary of State of the Navy and the Controller General of Finance.

In 1663, New France was proclaimed a province of France by Louis XIV, and two years following he sent a French garrison, the Carignan-Salières regiment, to Quebec. The government of the colony was reformed along the lines of the government of France, with the Governor General and Intendant subordinate to the Minister of the Marine in France. In an effort to boost the population of this new province the King also sent over 600 women of marrying age to be wed to colonial men, as well as engagés, or male indentured servants, who were encouraged to wed with the Natives.

Between 1689 and 1713 the French and British battled over their North American territories, through King William's War and Queen Anne's War, after which a terse peace reigned. New France continued to flourish, with a King's Highway (or ''Chemin du Roi) being built between Montreal and Quebec City. The peace ended, however, in 1744, with an invasion of French territory by Massachusetts Governor William Shirley, and did not return until the French and Indian War ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763, when nearly all the lands of New France were ceded by the French to the then British Crown in exchange for Guadaloupe.

On October 7, 1763, a Royal Proclamation laid out the policy of Great Britain regarding its newly acquired colonies of America; the three Quebec districts were united into the Province of Quebec. James Murray was appointed the first Governor of the new province, and in 1764 the first civil courts were established. That same year, French-Canadian landlords and merchants submit a first petition requesting that the orders of the King be available in the French language and that they be allowed to participate in the government.

Ten years later, George III gave Royal Assent to the Quebec Act, which gave French Canadians continued use of their French civil law, and recognized the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec, with the continuation of its right to legally collect tithes. This Act undermined the American revolutionaries' plans to gain the support of Quebecers, who saw their rights being more protected under the Crown than in an independent American republic^{[citation needed]}. In 1792, when the first elections for the Legislative assembly took place, Prince Edward was living in Quebec. When a riot, fueled by ethic character, broke out at one of the polls the Prince climbed up to where he could be heard and addressed the crowd, stating: "Part then in peace. I urge you to unanimity and accord. Let me hear no more of the odious distinctions of English and French. You are all His Britannic Majesty's beloved Canadian subjects." It was reportedly the first time the word "Canadian", which had previously been reserved only for francophones, was used in a manner that included all colonialists.^[8]

After the irruption of the American Revolution, in which some Quebecers aided the revolutionaries, approximately 46,000 people loyal to the Crown, dubbed Loyalists, fled the United States to the British colonies, including the Province of Quebec, where the Crown granted each family 200 acres (0.8 km²) of land, mostly in the Eastern Townships. Their arrival led to the eventual creation of the provinces of Upper Canada West of the Ottawa river and Lower Canada, the forerunner to the modern day Quebec, when Quebec was split through the Constitutional Act of 1791. Baron Guy Carleton was appointed Lower Canada's first Lieutenant-Governor in 1791.

Into the early 1800s, the population began to grow wary of the ability of the Lieutenant-Governor and his Council to dismiss the legislation passed by the elected Legislative Assembly. The Patriotes formed as a political party, led by Louis-Joseph Papineau, and campaigned for responsible government. Their demands were disregarded by the Lieutenant-Governor, Lord John Russell, an act which eventually led to the Lower Canada Rebellion^{[citation needed]}. Following this, Responsible self-government was established by the Crown. This altered the nature of the Lieutenant-Governor's role - he was now both a representative of the Crown bound to almost always follow the advice of his Prime Minister, but he remained a representative in Canada East of the Imperial Government in London, meaning the Queen could disallow any colonial legislation on the advice of her British ministers. In 1860, Queen Victoria's son, Prince Albert embarked on a three month tour of the Canadian provinces, including a raft run of the timber sides of the Chaudière River.^[9]

In 1867 came Confederation, and the Lieutenant-Governor of the newly created province of Quebec became an agent of the Federal Government rather than of the government in Whitehall. This led the Dominion Government and the Foreign Office in London to believe that the Lieutenant-Governor was the representative in Quebec of the Governor General, as representative of the Crown, going so far as to stipulate that the Lieutenant-Governor was to grant Royal Assent to provincial legislation in the name of the Governor General and not of the Queen. However, the latter never happened in Quebec, and Assent was given in Queen Victoria's name.^[10] Later, a decision by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1892 stated that the Lieutenant-Governor represented the Crown in his own right.^[11]

Prince Arthur, who would later be appointed as Governor General, spent a year with the First Battalion of the Rifle Brigade in Montreal. The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York traveled across Canada for two months in 1901, passing through Quebec, and the Duke, two years before he would become King, was present in Quebec City to celebrate the city's tercentenary.^[9]

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth were the first reigning monarchs to come to Canada, landing at Quebec City on the Canadian Pacific ship RMS Empress of Australia. It was there that two Boer War veterans of Scots heritage, who had argued over whether Elizabeth was Scottish or English, asked when presented to the Queen: "Are you Scots, or are you English?" Elizabeth's response was reported as being: "Since I have landed in Quebec, I think we can say that I am a Canadian."^[12]

Through the 1960s and 70s, the rise of Quebec nationalism and changes in Canadian identity created an atmosphere where the purpose and role of the Canadian Monarchy came into question. During a visit to Quebec in 1964, at the height of the Quiet Revolution, the Quebec press published reports of a separatist plot to assassinate the Queen, and the sentiment became pronounced when she was greeted by anti-monarchist demonstrations; the route of her procession was lined with Quebecers showing their backs to the Monarch. On Samedi de la matraque (Truncheon Saturday), police violently dispersed anti-monarchist demonstrators and arrested 36, including some who were there to cheer the Queen.^[13] During that same visit, in a speech to the Quebec Legislature, she ignored the national controversy in favour of praising Canada's two "complementary cultures", speaking, in both French and English, about the strength of Canada's two founding peoples, stating, "I am pleased to think that there exists in our Commonwealth a country where I can express myself officially in French," and, "whenever you sing [the French words of] 'O Canada' you are reminded that you come of a proud race."^[8][1]

At the first meeting of the Constitutional Conference, held in Ottawa in February, 1968, delegates from Quebec indicated that a Provincial President might suit the Province better than a Lieutenant Governor. However, there was overall a feeling that the Monarchy "has served us well and that its reform has no great priority in the present round of constitutional changes."^[14]

Queen Elizabeth II opened the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Many Quebec nationalists and sovereigntists complained about Queen Elizabeth's role in officially opening the Games. Robert Bourassa, then Premier of Quebec, pushed Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to invite the Queen to the games; though, Trudeau, after obliging him, became annoyed when Bourassa later became unsettled about how unpopular the move might be.^[15] Then leader of the Parti Québécois, René Lévesque, sent a letter to the Queen asking that she turn down the invitation; she did not oblige this request as she was acting on the advice of her federal prime minister.^[16]

In 1995, during a separatist referendum campaign, 29-year-old Pierre Brassard, a DJ for Radio CKOI-FM Montreal, tricked her into speaking with him, in both French and English, for 14 minutes, pretending to be Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. When told that the separatists were showing a lead, the Queen did reveal that she felt the "referendum may go the wrong way," adding, "if I can help in any way, I will be very happy to do so". However, she pointedly refused to accept "Chrétien's" advice that she intervene on the issue without first seeing a draft speech sent by him. Her tactful handling of the call won plaudits from the DJ. At the time of the referendum, the Queen was on her way to a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Auckland, New Zealand, and asked the pilot of her plane, which had landed at Los Angeles for refueling, not to take off until she had heard the results of the vote.^[17]

Further information: History of monarchy in Canada

Quebec's First Nations view their treaties as being agreements directly between them and the Crown, not with the ever-changing government of Canada. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 made clear that the First Nations were autonomous political units and affirmed their title to lands.

A modern demonstration of the relationship between the First Nations and the Crown was seen in 1997, when the Innu people of Quebec and Labrador presented a letter of grievance over stalled land claim negotiations to Queen Elizabeth II, rather than to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, while the two were visiting Sheshatshiu, Newfoundland and Labrador.^[18] After speaking with Tanien Ashini, Vice-President of the Innu Nation, the Queen handed the list to the Prime Minister for the Cabinet to address.

The James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement was a major treaty signed between the Cree and Inuit of northern Quebec, and the Crown-in-Right-of-Quebec. It was later slightly modified in 1978 by the Northeastern Quebec Agreement, through which Quebec's Naskapi Indians joined the treaty.

The Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning, later McGill University, is one of Canada's oldest institutions founded under Royal Charter, and the first to receive royal patronage, having been created by decree of King George III in 1801. The institution was later created a university through a Royal Charter from King George IV in 1821.

King George III was the "royal founder" of Christ Church Cathedral, Quebec City.

The Royal Montreal Golf Club was founded in 1873, and granted royal patronage, as well as permission to use the royal prefix, by Queen Victoria eleven years following. The Royal Québec Golf Club also enjoys royal patronage since receiving the status from King George V in 1934.

Also in Montreal is the Royal Victoria Hospital, and the Royal Montréal Curling Club.

Further information: List of Canadian organizations with royal patronage

Queen Elizabeth II is Colonel-in-Chief of the Régiment de la Chaudière,and the Royal 22e Régiment, based at La Citadelle in Quebec City. She also Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery, which is the first artillery company in Canada, formed in Quebec in 1750, and of the Canadian Grenadier Guards in Montreal.

The Prince of Wales is Colonel-in-Chief of the Black Watch regiment, a reserve infantry regiment in the Land Force Quebec Area, and located in Montreal.

The Collège militaire royal (CMR) in St-Jean Sur Richelieu was opened in 1952 as a bilingual educational institution under the jurisdiction of the Royal Canadian Air Force, intended as a preparatory college for certain cadets before proceding to the Royal Military College in Kingston. The facility was closed, however, in 1995, due to cuts to the Department of National Defence's operating budget.

Her Majesty's Canadian Ships with Quebec namesakes include HMCS Montreal, HMCS Ville de Québec, HMCS Shawinigan and HMCS Chicoutimi. The HMCS Quebec was a previous ship named for the province.

• Victoriaville - named for Queen Victoria ^[19]

In 2000 Lise Thibault reinstituted the Lieutenant-Governor's Award for outstanding achievements of graduates at the secondary, post-secondary, college and university levels. Previously a medal, the modern award is in the form of a certificate.

The second-largest place in Canada named for Queen Victoria is in the province of Quebec, as well as 7 physical features, including Grand lac Victoria at the head of the Ottawa River, south of Val-d'Or.^[19]

Mount Royal, from which the name of Montreal itself is derived, was named by Jacques Cartier in 1535, in honour of King Francis I. It was dedicated as a park on Victoria Day, 1876. The monument to George-Étienne Cartier was inaugurated by telegram by King George V from Balmoral Castle, in 1919. The Place Reine Elizabeth II can be found in Trois-Rivières, and the Parc Reine Elizabeth II in La Pocatière.

In the heart of Montreal, in the Quartier international, is Victoria Square, named for Queen Victoria when the Prince of Wales visited the city in 1919, and containing a statue of the Sovereign. In downtown Montreal can also be found the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel.

Also in Montreal, crossing the Saint Lawrence River, is the Victoria Bridge, finished in 1859, and officially named the Jubilee Bridge in commemoration of Queen Victoria's 20th anniversary as Sovereign, but came to be known as the Victoria Bridge. The Monarch was invited to open the bridge, however this task was actually completed by Albert, Prince of Wales in 1860.

The Windsor Hotel was named after Canada's Royal House. Though no longer a hotel, part of the building remains, now used as an office block, with the name Le Windsor. Nearby is the historic Windsor Station.

Quebec City holds Place Royale, or "Royal Square," named for King Louis XIV.

During an interview in Saskatchewan, Parti Québécois leader, René Lévesque, when asked if there would be any role for the monarchy in a sovereign Quebec, stated: "Are you joking? Why? I have great respect for the Queen... but what the hell part should monarchy have in Quebec?" However, University of Toronto Professor Richard Toporoski held the theory that a sovereign, not independent, Quebec would still be under the sovereignty of the Queen; "...the real problem of the Quebec bill is not separation from Canada: Quebec has said that it wishes to preserve common elements - Canadian currency (issued officially by whom? - the Queen of Canada), for example, and the possibility of Quebec citizens being Canadian citizens (and who are Canadian citizens? - subjects of the Queen)."^[20]

One interesting constitutional question is the role of the Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec in the hypothetical case of the Quebec National Assembly voting to unilaterally secede. Some have argued that in this situation, the lieutenant-governor not only could refuse Royal Assent, but would be duty bound to do so.

• Office of the Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec

	Politics of Quebec v • d • e
Lieutenant-Governor: Lise Thibault | Former lieutenant-governors
Premier: Jean Charest | Former premiers
Opposition Leader: Mario Dumont | Former Opposition Leaders
Government of Quebec: Cabinet · Government departments
National Assembly: Current assembly · Government House Leader
President of the Assembly: Michel Bissonnet
National Question: Quebec nationalism • Quebec federalist ideology Quebec sovereignty movement • Referenda on independence: 1995 · 1980
Elections; Quebec general election, 2003 • Quebec general election, 2007
Political parties: Parti libéral du Québec • Parti Québécois • Action démocratique du Québec • Parti vert du Québec • Québec solidaire
Other provinces and territories: BC • AB • SK • MB • ON • QC • NB • NS • PEI • NL • YU • NT • NU