On Friday, June 7, the Quebec government announced the creation of the Advisory Committee on Quebec’s Constitutional Issues within the Canadian Federation, whose mandate is to ” […] recommend measures to protect and promote the collective rights of the Quebec nation, to ensure respect for its distinct social values and its distinct identity, to guarantee respect for Quebec’s areas of jurisdiction and to increase its autonomy within the Canadian federation.”
While Canada and its provinces and territories seem clearly incapable of discussing any modernization of the Constitution of Canada, and in particular the Constitution Act, 1982, which was imposed on the people of Quebec without the consent of its government and its Parliament, the State of Quebec can no longer wait: it must immediately equip itself with the necessary levers to respond to the immense challenges facing the future of the Quebec nation.
By the end of the current legislature and the general election set for October 5, 2026, Droits collectifs Québec (DCQ) therefore proposes that five concrete actions be taken that would allow Quebec to regain the initiative in constitutional matters.
1. Formalize a Constitution of Quebec. During the study day entitled “From the Quebec Act to the Constitution of Quebec: Time to Act”, organized by DCQ on June 22, several observations were made. For example, it was recognized that Quebec already has a Constitution that governs its operations and its powers as a State and that only needs to be formalized. Similarly, if the formula for amending the Constitution of Canada makes it functionally impossible to modernize it on the basis of pan-Canadian negotiations, Quebec has the power to unilaterally amend its own constitution.
The formalization of the latter and the adoption of a written and official constitution for Quebec therefore constitute a first strong gesture proposed by DCQ.
2. Create a Constitutional Council of Quebec. A second avenue, complementary to the adoption of a constitution for Quebec, would be the creation of a Constitutional Council of Quebec whose activities would be integrated into the process of adopting laws by the National Assembly. In doing so, the opinions of such a constitutional council would have to be considered by the courts, since they would be integrated into the intention of the legislator. Such a gesture would also provide a formal way for the expression of Quebec’s difference in legal matters.
3. Unilaterally proclaim a separate duty of interpretation for Quebec in the Constitutional Act, 1867. Such an avenue would aim to have it recognized in the Constitution of Canada that Quebec has a system and tradition of civil law that are specific to it and that operate according to values and premises that differ from those linked to Anglo-Canadian jurisprudence. common lawQuebec law is thought of and operates differently, and this distinction must be respected when Canadian courts read and interpret its meaning.
In addition to these three constitutional approaches with strong potential, DCQ proposes two other concrete actions that would allow the Quebec state to base its action on a more global approach.
4. Establish Quebec citizenship. Thus, DCQ recommends the establishment of such citizenship based on the same criteria as those related to the exercise of the right to vote in Quebec, minus the minimum age criterion. The objective pursued by such a gesture would be to reach the hearts and minds of Quebecers through the power of symbols, particularly those from the new generations and immigration, by presenting Quebec citizenship as the cornerstone of civic integration in Quebec as an identity referent of integration in Quebec.
5. Reform the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. The fifth and final gesture proposed by DCQ concerns the reform of the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms adopted by Quebec in 1976. Indeed, while Quebec was once again a pioneer in this area in Canada, our own charter was slowly but surely marginalized by the deployment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, adopted in 1982 and used since then by Canadian courts to limit the scope of Quebec laws protecting our collective rights, in particular those guaranteed by the Charter of the French Language and the State Secularism Act. Our Quebec Charter must reaffirm not only its primacy, but also its distinct and civil law character.
While the rest of Canada has given up on the possibility of modernizing a fundamental law entangled in its contradictions and torn apart by the evolution of Canadian society, the time has come for Quebec to act, even if it means doing so unilaterally.
Faced with the immense challenges posed by the socio-demographic evolution of Quebec and Canada, as well as by the advent of information and telecommunications technologies, Quebec must urgently increase its constitutional autonomy, and therefore its ability to make its own choices. The future of all Quebecers depends on it.