1) RenŽ
LŽvesque Speech: La question de 1980 (Sur la souverainetŽ)
- Audio clip from CBC Radio Archives
2) 1967
Speech of French President Charles De Gaulle: ÒVive le QuŽbec libre!Ó
CBC Newsmagazine Episode:
Host: Norman DePoe Broadcast
Date: Sept. 24, 1967
http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-73-236-1132-21/unforgettable_moments/politics_economy/vive_quebec_libre
On
July 24, 1967, French President Charles de Gaulle causes a political uproar
when he exclaims, "Vive le QuŽbec libre" to an ecstatic crowd in
front of Montreal City Hall. De Gaulle was one of many world leaders invited to
Expo 67 to help celebrate Canada's 100th birthday. Prime Minister Lester B.
Pearson is outraged by the comment and issues an official rebuke saying,
"Canadians do not need to be liberated." De Gaulle cuts short his
trip and returns to France. The event was seen as a watershed moment by members
of the Quebec
sovereigntism movement.
French Transcript:
C'est une immense Žmotion qui remplit mon cÏur
en voyant devant moi la ville de MontrŽal... franaise!
Au nom du vieux pays, au nom de la France, je
vous salue! Je vous salue de tout mon cÏur!
Je vais vous confier un secret que vous ne
rŽpŽterez pas. Ce soir ici, et tout le long de ma route, je me trouvais dans
une atmosphre du mme genre que celle de la LibŽration! Et tout le long de ma
route, outre cela, j'ai constatŽ quel immense effort de progrs, de
dŽveloppement, et par consŽquent d'affranchissement vous accomplissez ici et
c'est ˆ MontrŽal qu'il faut que je le dise, parce que, s'il y a au monde une
ville exemplaire par ses rŽussites modernes, c'est la v™tre! Je dis c'est la
v™tre et je me permets d'ajouter, c'est la n™tre!
Si vous saviez quelle confiance la France,
rŽveillŽe aprs d'immenses Žpreuves, porte maintenant vers vous, si vous saviez
quelle affection elle recommence ˆ ressentir pour les Franais du Canada et si
vous saviez ˆ quel point elle se sent obligŽe de concourir ˆ votre marche en
avant, ˆ votre progrs. C'est pourquoi elle a conclu avec le Gouvernement du
QuŽbec, avec celui de mon ami Johnson, des accords, pour que les Franais de
part et d'autre de l'Atlantique travaillent ensemble ˆ une mme Ïuvre
franaise. Et, d'ailleurs, le concours que la France va, tous les jours un peu
plus, prter ici, elle sait bien que vous le lui rendrez, parce que vous tes
en train de vous constituer des Žlites, des usines, des entreprises, des
laboratoires, qui feront l'Žtonnement de tous et qui, un jour, j'en suis sžr,
vous permettront d'aider la France.
Voilˆ ce que je suis venu vous dire ce soir en
ajoutant que j'emporte de cette rŽunion inou•e de MontrŽal un souvenir
inoubliable! La France entire sait, voit, entend, ce qui se passe ici, et je
puis vous dire qu'elle en vaudra mieux!
Vive MontrŽal! Vive le QuŽbec!... Vive le QuŽbec... libre!!! Vive le Canada
franais! Et vive la France!!!
Translation (from Wikipedia)
It
is an immense emotion that fills my heart seeing in front of me the French city
of Montreal!
In
the name of the old country, in the name of France, I salute you! I
salute you with all my heart!
I
will tell you a secret that you mustn't repeat. Here tonight, and all along my
way, I have found myself in an atmosphere just like that of the Liberation! And
all along my way, moreover, I have noticed what immense effort of progress, of
development, and consequently of emancipation you are accomplishing here and it
is in Montreal that I must say it, because, if there is in the world a city
exemplary for its modern successes, it is yours! I say it is yours and I allow
myself to add, it is ours!
If
you knew what confidence France, arisen after immense ordeals, now feels
towards you, if you knew what affection she begins to feel again for the French
people of Canada and if you
knew how much she feels obligated to contribute to your march forward, to your
progress. That is why she has concluded with the Government of Quebec, with
my friend Johnson,
agreements, so that the French from both sides of the Atlantic can work together
on one same French undertaking. And, indeed, the assistance that France will
lend here, a little more every day, she well knows that you will return it,
because you are in the process of setting up for yourselves elites, factories,
companies, laboratories, that will astonish everyone and that, one day, I'm
sure, will allow you to help France.
This
is what I have come to tell you tonight, adding that I will bring home from
this incredible reunion of Montreal an unforgettable memory! The whole of
France knows, sees, hears, what is happening here, and I may tell you that she
shall be better from it!
Long
live Montreal!
Long live Quebec!...
Long live Quebec... free!!!
Long
live French Canada!
And long live France!!!