quebec, a province in the canadian confederation since its foundation in 1867, has always been the only province where the most commonly spoken language is french. quebec has also historically been very connected to french culture and the catholic church, which was seen as the national church when the french colonists began to settle in what became quebec. many quebecois people value their french identity and culture. in the early 1960s, quebec went through a quiet revolution where politicians separated the role of the church from the role of government organisations in a process called secularisation. during this time period, political groups in the province began to identify as federalists (who wanted to be a part of a unified canada) and sovereigntists (who wanted quebec to become a sovereign nation state, separate from canada).