Survey on problematic relations between French and Quebec francophones
The literature on the relations between Quebec and France frequently points to interpersonal problems between the individuals from these two societies – problems that manifest, for example, in Quebeckers referring to the French as the “maudit Français.” At the root of this malaise is a sentiment of distrust, purportedly long-standing, of French Quebeckers for the French. A previous study of ours confirmed the existence of this malaise through interviews effected among some 20 French management professionals living and working in Quebec in 2004. In this article, we explore this question with a survey conducted in 2009 with 930 French people living and working in Quebec. Our results indicate that the malaise is still strongly felt by a good proportion of individuals from this group. It appears that those who feel the malaise the strongest are those who came to Quebec mainly for work reasons, while those who came for the quality of life or the cultural experience feel it a lot less strongly.