Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada

30th Anniversary of Referendum on Quebec Sovereignty
October 30, 1995

Crying Need Remains to Recognize the Rights of the Quebec Nation and for Modern Constitutions for Quebec and Canada

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Montreal rally for the “Yes” side in the Quebec referendum, October 25, 1995.

October 30, 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of the historic referendum vote held in 1995 on how to exercise the sovereignty of Quebec. It is instructive to review what took place at that time and its significance in light of the situation today, where 30 years later, the political arrangements imposed by the ruling circles continue to deprive the Quebec people, the people of Canada and Indigenous Peoples of their right to decide their own constitutions. The ruling elite block any new arrangements needed to sort out relations between the peoples and between the peoples and nature based on the recognition of their rights as peoples and nations. It is up to a people to constitute the state, not the state to constitute the people.

In the summer of 1995 the Parti Québécois (PQ) government led by Jacques Parizeau presented Bill 1, An Act Respecting the Future of Quebec, to the Quebec National Assembly. Also known as the Sovereignty Bill, this bold move by the PQ government followed more than 20 years of failed inter-provincial conferences to recognize Quebec in Confederation and the refusal of the federal government to address Quebec’s demands for constitutional reforms.

The election of René Lévesque and a PQ government in 1976 clearly showed the desire of the Quebec people for recognition of their right to sovereignty and to control their economic, political, social and cultural affairs.

Instead of recognizing the need to modernize the Constitution and recognize the demands of the Quebec people, the political elites in Canada did everything to try to isolate and attack these just demands and isolate Quebec. In 1981, the Trudeau Liberals sought to consolidate René Lévesque’s referendum loss in 1980 by negotiating the inclusion of a Charter of Rights and Freedoms and an amending formula to the British North America Act 1867 (BNA), subsequently adopted by the British Parliament. On the basis of this imposition, they “patriated” the Constitution in 1982 without even bothering to consult the people of all of Canada or getting the consent of Quebec whose right to self-determination was not recognized, despite having until then called Quebec one of Canada’s “two founding nations.” [More]