The Decibel - How Gen Z says ‘oui’: Meet Quebec’s young sovereigntists

Episode Date: August 6, 2026

With a Quebec provincial election on deck this fall, and the Parti Québécois leading in the polls, there’s a good chance Quebec will hold another referendum on independence. Support for separation is polling at around 30 per cent — far below the majority vote result needed to form an independent country. However, a new generation of sovereigntists is cropping up, one that hadn’t even been born for the last referendum, in 1995. Maura Forrest is a Quebec correspondent for The Globe and Mail. She’s on the show to talk about what Gen Z sovereignty looks like, how it differs from previous movements, and the implications for the upcoming election. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

There's a provincial election in Quebec this fall, and the sovereignist Parti-Cabecois is leading the polls, which means there's a good chance Quebec will hold another referendum on independence. Right now, support for separation is polling at around 30%, which is far lower than the 50% plus 1, Quebec says it would need. However, there is a new generation of sovereignists cropping up. The last referendum was back in 1995, which means that no one under the age of 48 has ever voted in one. So, how are young people finding the movement?

Mora Forrest is a Quebec correspondent for the Globe. She's here to talk about what the Gen Z Quebec sovereignty movement looks like and how it differs from older generations and previous movements. I'm Cheryl Sutherland and this is the Decibel from the Globe and Mail. Hi, Maura. Welcome to the decibel. Great to have you on finally. Hi, thanks for having me. So before we get into how the young people today engage with Quebec sovereignty, I think it's worth taking a step back and thinking about the young people that were involved in the earlier movements and what those were like. So can you give me a sense of that? Right. I mean, I guess for a sort of very

brief history lesson, I mean, sovereignty and Quebec nationalism have been around for as long as Quebec has been around. But I think when we think about the sort of modern sovereignty movement, we're really talking about a movement that had its roots in the 1960s and 1970s. So beginning with the quiet revolution in Quebec, which was a period of profound change in the province, which was marked by, for example, the Catholic Church had been very dominant in Quebec society. And in the 1960s, as part of the quiet revolution, Quebec became a much more secular society. But also, for a long time, the sort of upper echelons of Quebec's economy and business classes had been dominated by Anglophones. And in the 1960s, you also saw this shift where Francophone Quebecers started

to take on positions of more power and authority in Quebec, becoming what we call Maitre Sheenou, so masters in our own home. And as part of that movement, you saw this sort of growing sense of Quebec nationalism, a sense of Quebec identity. This is a time when people started thinking of Quebecers as Quebecois rather than French Canadians. And so growing out of that, you saw the formation of the Parts Quebecois and ultimately the first independence referendum in 1980. That early independence movement really grew out of the sense of Quebecers feeling like they had not been fully respected within the Canadian Federation.

And so, of course, the first referendum failed in 1980. And then you had this period that was marked by a series of constitutional negotiations. So you think of the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution in 1982, which Quebec never consented to. And then subsequently, uh, the failed attempts to amend the constitution to get Quebec to sign on. So the, the Meach Lake Court and the Charlotte Town Accord, um, which both failed. That was a very important period in Quebec in terms of, uh, renewing sort of sovereign to sentiment in the province leading up to 1995. Again, renewing the sentiment that Quebec is not an equal partner at the table in Canada, that its values are not fully respected.

And so that kind of created new momentum leading into the second referendum in 1995, which, as we know, was very close. And so I think that earlier iteration of the independence movement was really marked by this sort of search for self-determination for equality for a feeling of, yeah, being able to decide their own future. And those movements were really powered by young people, right? To a large extent, yes. In 1980 and 1995, I think there was this ground swell of sovereign to sentiment among young people. It was really, yeah, driven by, you know, young intellectuals who were very passionate about this idea of Quebec being its own nation, being its own country.

So let's bring it to today. How does the demographic spread now compare to previous movements? Yeah, I think that, you know, there are certain things that have remained consistent over time. So unsurprisingly, the Sovereignty, the sovereignist movement has always been predominantly a Francophone movement in Quebec. Support for sovereignty tends to be higher in the regions of Quebec outside of Montreal. But an interesting thing that has shifted is that it's no longer a movement that is led primarily by young people. So today, you still have a cohort of sort of old guard sovereignists, if you want to call them that. So folks who are around in 1995, somewhere around in 1980, who are still hoping that in their lifetime they'll see Quebec become an independent country. But then you also have younger people who are coming into the movement who often were not born in 1995 or had no memory of it. And so you're seeing now support for sovereignty overall is not high in Quebec, but among those who do support it, there's a much more

of an age spread. It's not led by one particular generation. Okay, so that's really great to lead into what this new generation looks like when it comes to sovereignists, because this is Gen Z we're talking about, right? So this is people born after 1995. And you met some people that are involved in this sovereignty movement. Can you tell me about the people you've met and what they're like? Yeah, that's right. So we're talking about, you know, people who are in their 20s, maybe early 30s at this point. But like young people generally, you know, they are, they're passionate, they're idealistic. And, you know, they come from all kinds of different backgrounds. I spoke to one young woman, Delphin, who she's 25, and she said, you know, her family had been, Fervent Sovereign

as they voted, yes, they voted to separate in 1995. But the sort of trauma of losing that referendum was so intense for them that they basically stopped talking about sovereignty after that. It just kind of was no longer a dinner table conversation. So when she was growing up, her family didn't talk about it. And it was only when she sort of rediscovered the movement as a young adult herself that, you know, she kind of got her family to start engaging with it again as well. That's so interesting. Wow. Yeah. And I, you know, but then I spoke to another young man, Emmerich, who's 20, and, you know, his family was not at all a sovereignist. He came upon it in his own way. You know, one thing that he and a couple of people that I spoke to have talked

about was traveling abroad, traveling outside Quebec, and feeling like they really identified as Quebecers. So, you know, traveling to the rest of Canada and feeling like they felt culturally quite different from the rest of Canada. But also I spoke to people who've traveled outside Canada and who felt like, you know, they were identified by people elsewhere as Canadians. And that didn't feel quite right to them. You know, they felt like they're Quebecers. But that's not an identity, like a national identity that is really well known outside of Canada. And so those are some of the experiences that I think helped to kind of create this desire to have a distinct identity and to have that be recognized.

That's really interesting. So what you're describing here is this movement towards getting involved because they feel like they're not quite Canadian and they feel very close to their Quebec cultural identity. And is that what's really pushing them to be involved in the sovereignty movement? Yeah. I think that, you know, one thing that you hear a lot when you talk to sovereign just and especially young sovereigntists is this idea that they don't want to separate in order to to, you know, the idea is not to do this against Canada or to separate from Canada. It's not,

they don't want to do this in opposition to Canada. It's more about for them celebrating Quebec culture and Quebec identity and what Quebec is. So, you know, they're not, they don't see this as being sort of a hostile gesture. They see it as being about, um, recognizing, you know, Quebec history and, and everything that makes Quebec distinct. And so I think that, you know, we can also talk about sort of the online component. I mean, this is a very online movement. These are, you know, Gen Z. Yeah, I want to ask you about what is, like, we have an idea of like what people are,

why people are drawn to this, but what does this Gen Z movement look like? How is it manifesting? Yeah, I mean, it is a very online movement, of course, as everything Gen Z is, right? I think to some extent it grew out of, you know, online discourse, memes and so on. But yeah, I think that this movement, such as it is, owes a lot to social media. You know, you see, for example, on TikTok, there are, you know, young people who have made videos of themselves, like, lip-sinking to one of Renéle-Leveg's famous speeches after the loss of the 1980 referendum where he said, at la Précheon-Fue, meaning until next time. Yeah, remind us who Renélebeck is.

Just to for those who might need a refresher here. Fair enough. Yeah. So René-Levec is still kind of, you know, the spiritual father of the sovereignty movement in Quebec. He founded the Pacti Quebecois in 1968. And then he became Quebec Premier between 76 and 85. And in that time, he led the first referendum campaign in 1980. And he's a very beloved figure in Quebec and still looms very large in Quebec politics and society. And yes, so he led the first referendum in 1980, which of course he did not win. But yeah, after the loss of that referendum, he said something to the effective, if I understand you well, you're saying until next time, at the next time. And so you'll see often, you know, that speech and others being sort of repurposed and edited into these TikTok videos and reels and so on. Yeah, being sort of shared among the, you.

young people who obviously would not have lived through any of this themselves. Yeah, it sounds like there's a lot of nostalgia for an era that they did not experience. Yeah, it's an interesting thing because I think that it is very nostalgia tinge when you look at the sort of content that's being shared online, Renélez-Evec and Jacques Parizzo, also the former Premier who led the 1995 referendum, you know, you'll see a lot of his content and music from that time as well, you know, Jean-Lelieu, who is a very, very beloved singer in Quebec. from that era, his music being used a lot by young people today as well. And yeah, so it is very sort of nostalgic a lot of this content for a time that they did not

experience. But I think what's interesting about it is that they're using these old references and, you know, they're very much connecting to the history of the sovereignty movement, but with a very different flavor, like this sort of trauma of defeat that a lot of Quebecers who lived through that time feel and certainly felt then is not really present. You know, these young people, they didn't live through it. And so they're still, you know, looking back at that time and using those clips and using that content. But the feeling is very different. It's very celebratory. It's not, it feels much less sort of angry or fearful. It's, it's very joyful the way they're

sort of repurposing it and repackaging this movement. In French, there's a word that they often use to say it's decomplexe, meaning it's sort of uncomplicated the way they're engaging with sovereignty today. That's really interesting. And I was going to ask you this question about comparing these two movements, right? And it sounds like Gen Z, like you said, is hopeful. It's celebratory. They're focusing on culture versus the past generations in this kind of this feeling of trauma, right, of what was happening at the time. Yeah, I think so. I think that the sovereignty movement really grew out of a history of discrimination to some extent, a history of really feeling that they were, to some degree, second-class citizens in their own home.

And I think, you know, so much has changed in Quebec society over the last several decades. And I think young people today in their 20s, they didn't grow up with that same reality. And so I think for them, there's much more of a focus on just celebrating what. what Quebec is and what Quebec has to offer, you know, music and theater and literature and all of these things. It feels much more like like a party, I think, in some ways. We'll be right back. So we talked a bit about how this is manifesting online, but there's also organizations that are actively looking to attract young people, IRL. So can you talk to me about that part of it? Well, so I spoke with a couple of people

who work for this organization called We Quebec. And this is a relatively new nonpartisan group that is trying to drum up support for sovereignty and especially among young people. So, for example, they have organized events like at the, at San Jean-Batsiste, which is Quebec's national holiday in June. They organized a big party at a park in Montreal where they got about 12,000 people to show up. They also have opened this cafe in Montreal. all earlier this year called Club Puyi, which translates to country club, I guess.

Exclusive. Yes. And, yeah, so it's a sovereignist cafe. It's sort of meant to help them reach out to new people who might be interested in the movement. But they, you know, they host events there. And so it's a way to sort of draw people into a real life movement. They build themselves as nonpartisan. campaigning on behalf of any political party, but they are hoping to sort of prepare, I guess,

the yes campaign for any future referendum that occurs. And I mean, sovereignty also shows up on the menu, which I kind of love some of the names here. Like there's Biscuit, which is like we in the middle, the word yes. Yeah, bisque. Yeah. So the question of Quebec sovereignty was relatively quiet until quite recently, I would say. So why are we hearing about it again? Yes, I mean, it's a good question because recent polling has consistently shown that support for sovereignty in Quebec is only about 30%.

So this is not close to what you would need to actually win a referendum. The reason it's really back on the table right now is that the current leader of the Patsi Quebecois, he has said consistently since he won the leadership of the party in 2020, that he would organize a referendum on independence within a first mandate. And so there is about to be a Quebec election in October. And so a referendum within a first mandate if the PQ were to win would mean Quebec might have a referendum by 2030. And the reason that the PQ is now in a position to potentially form government is, for the last eight years, Quebec has had a government of the Coalition Avenir Quebec. So this is a nationalist party that was co-founded by the former Premier Francois LeGo.

and he basically created the party as an alternative to the sovereignest partsi Quebecois and the federalist liberals as a nationalist party that would defend Quebec culture and Quebec values, but that would not organize a referendum. So he wanted to sort of put that question to bed. And for a long time, it seemed like he had done that. He won two majority governments in 2018 and 2022. But he made some unpopular decisions and, you know, also his government, I think, just kind of got older and more tired and started to lose popularity, particularly in

2023 and after. And so people started looking for an alternative. And at the time that the CAQ was losing popularity, the liberals, which are the official opposition in Quebec, didn't have a permanent leader. And so post-Sin-Pierrelandon, the PQ leader, he kind of filled a void. He's charismatic. He's well-spoken. He comes to. He comes to. He comes to a moment. He comes across as someone with a lot of integrity. And so he just sort of, I think, seemed like the natural opposition, the natural alternative to the CAQ. And so as the CAQ started to collapse in the polls, you saw the PQ really rise. And they have basically been leading in the polls ever since, so ever since late 2023. And so basically, the confluence of those factors means that now we're in a situation

where even though support for sovereignty is not that high in Quebec, the PQ could well form the next government. And Palti Piedel-Pamando has consistently promised that if they do, he will organize a referendum. So the provincial election in Quebec needs to happen by October 5th. And there are five main parties. And it's not just a PQ that is supporting sovereignty. There's another party as well, Quebec Solidare. And I'm just, I'm curious. So there are these two parties that are supporting it.

How does support for Quebec sovereignty split among ideological lines? Yeah, so this is an interesting thing because, you know, it used to be the case that if you were a sovereignist in Quebec, you would vote PQ and if you were not, you would vote liberal. Those are the two major parties. It was sort of a more simple political calculation in years past, but the political landscape has really fractured in Quebec now. And so you've got these five main parties that are all likely to win seats in October. And sovereignist votes, many of them will go to the PQ, but recent polling shows that sovereignists don't all say they will vote PQ. So there is another sovereignist party, Quebec Salidaire, which is a more left-wing party that tends to win seats largely in Montreal. And they also are

sovereignist, though they have not made that so central to their agenda. They haven't put a timeline on it in the way that the PQ has. But you also see in polling that there are a certain number of sovereignist voters who have said they will support the Coalition of Emir-Keebeck, so that's the current governing party, which is nationalist, but not explicitly sovereign-ist. And you also see some sovereign-ist voters say they'll support the conservatives, which have just one seat currently in the National Assembly, but seem likely to win some this year. And they are not sovereignist, but they are drawing some of those votes. So it will be interesting to see as the election approaches, if sovereignty really becomes the main focal point of this campaign, if those sovereignist voters

do start to move back to the PQ or if that split remains in place, that will be an interesting dynamic to watch. When it comes to the Gen Z sovereignists, though, do we have a sense of how they see path forward? Like, are they looking towards one particular party? It's hard to say exactly how Genese's sovereign to specifically will vote. I don't know that there's great polling that looks specifically at that demographic. But I think there's a couple of interesting things there. So the PQ under Potent Pierre Plamondon has taken a fairly strong stance on certain issues around immigration and secularism and so on. So Poit-in-Pérand-Landon has said he would cut immigration pretty significantly in Quebec, which he says is necessary to protect the Quebec language. You know,

he also supports some of the moves that the CAQ government has made on secularism, on religious symbols, bans, and so on. These are issues that don't tend to resonate with younger voters as much, so not specifically sovereign-ist voters, but, But the younger demographic doesn't tend to be as motivated by ideas around, you know, cutting immigration and strengthening secularism. And so what I noticed with some of the people that I was speaking to, some of these young sovereignists, is that they're really not sure about the PQ and they're not sure about Post-Mier-Plamondon.

Some of them, anyway, feel kind of alienated by what he's saying about immigration. I think their vision of sovereignty is more inclusive. They want to welcome newcomers. And I think that some of the rhetoric that they hear from the PQ doesn't resonate with them. When it comes to sovereignty, I get the sense that the young people are looking at a much longer path than just this coming election. So how much of their movement today is about, I don't know, laying the groundwork for a bigger movement in the future? That's a hard question to answer. I think, and I think it really depends.

There are certainly some young sovereignists who want to see a referendum as soon as possible. and who I think, you know, will support the PQ because that is the best chance of getting a referendum on the table. But it is true, I think that, at least with some of the people that I spoke to, that you don't necessarily get the same sense of urgency as you do sometimes with talking to older sovereignists. You know, I'm not totally sure to what extent they all want to campaign for a referendum sort of now. I think that they are invested in the movement. They really support, you know, recognizing Quebec's distinct heritage and culture. Yeah, it's not clear to me whether they are all ready to sort of jump on the yes campaign and make it happen as soon as possible. I think there's probably a range of perspectives there.

And I think, you know, one thing that I did hear from one young person that I spoke to is that they want the conditions to be right to win a referendum. And now is a difficult time to think about winning a referendum. The support for sovereignty is not that high. You've got a very uncertain geopolitical situation. You've seen support for sovereignty decline in Quebec since Donald Trump returned to the White House, for example. And so for some young people, it may seem like this is not necessarily the optimal time. So it will be interesting. to see how that plays out in the coming years if the PQ does form government. Maura, this has been a really interesting conversation.

Thank you so much for coming on the decibel. No, thank you so much for having me. That was Mora Forrest, a Quebec correspondent for the globe. That's it for today. I'm Cheryl Sutherland. Our producers are Madeline White, Rachel Levy McGlachlan, and Mahal Stein. Our editor is David Crosby. Adrian Chung is our senior producer.

and Angela Pichenza is our executive editor. Thanks so much for listening.