The Conseil de la Souveraineté du Québec (CSQ) is a non-governmental organization promoting

Quebec sovereignty The Quebec sovereignty movement (french: Mouvement souverainiste du Québec) is a political movement whose objective is to achieve the sovereignty of Quebec, a province of Canada since 1867, including in all matters related to any provision o ...

in the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

province of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. The council was started in 2003 at the initiative of the province's

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (; ; PQ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishin ...

government. It has been renamed to Organisations unies pour l'indépendance (OUI) in December 2014. An earlier organization of the same name existed in 1995 and played a prominent role in the 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty.

1995 organization

The original council was established in May 1995, with former

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

Yves Duhaime Yves Duhaime (born May 27, 1939) is a former politician in Quebec, Canada. He served as Cabinet Member and Member of the National Assembly of Quebec. Early life Duhaime was born in Chicoutimi, and grew up in Shawinigan. In the 1960s, Duhaime ...

as its first president and prominent Quebec nationalist Louise Laurin was its first vice-president. While it had only a small membership, it was regarded a serious force in influencing public opinion. During the buildup to the referendum, it ran full-page advertisements in English-language newspapers arguing that the

government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

was wasting millions in taxpayer dollars by promoting

Canadian federalism Canadian federalism () involves the current nature and historical development of the federal system in Canada. Canada is a federation with eleven components: the national Government of Canada and ten provincial governments. All eleven go ...

in Quebec. Quebec's Parti Québécois government authorized payments to the council amounting to four million dollars in August and October 1995; this money was not subject to campaign finance limits, as it was all spent before the referendum campaign officially started. Duhaime argued that the money was well spent in countering Canadian federalist advertising. The council also raised and spent a further one million dollars in the same period.

2003 organization

The new council was launched in early 2003, at the urging of former

Quebec premier The premier of Quebec ( French: ''premier ministre du Québec'' (masculine) or ''première ministre du Québec'' (feminine)) is the head of government of the Canadian province of Quebec. The current premier of Quebec is François Legault of the ...

Jacques Parizeau Jacques Parizeau (; August 9, 1930June 1, 2015) was a Canadian politician and Québécois economist who was a noted Quebec sovereigntist and the 26th premier of Quebec from September 26, 1994, to January 29, 1996. Early life and career Pariz ...

. It was designated with charitable tax status and was assured of regular financial support from both the

and

Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (BQ; , "Québécois people, Quebecer Voting bloc, Bloc") is a list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty movement, Que ...

; both parties also nominated one member to its eleven-member governing board. The new council's first leader was

Gerald Larose Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Iri ...

, who continues to hold this position as of 2011. The council has urged the Parti Québécois to maintain an openly sovereigntist ideology. In 2006, the council introduced a book, ("Let's talk about sovereignty at school") intended to be taught in classrooms for children of kindergarten age upwards. Premier

Jean Charest John James "Jean" Charest (; born June 24, 1958) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 29th premier of Quebec from 2003 to 2012 and the fifth deputy prime minister of Canada in 1993. Charest was elected to the House of ...

dismissed the book as "exploit ngchildren for political ends," while Parti Québécois leader

André Boisclair André Boisclair (; born April 14, 1966) is a former Canadian politician and convicted sex offender in Quebec, Canada. He was the leader of the Parti Québécois, a social democratic and sovereigntist party in Quebec. Between January 1996 and M ...

agreed that the book was not appropriate. As of 2011, the council's governing board includes representatives of the Parti Québécois, the Bloc Québécois, and

Québec solidaire Québec solidaire (QS; ) is a democratic socialist and sovereigntist political party in Quebec, Canada. The party and media outlets in Canada usually use the name "Québec solidaire" in both French and English, but the party's name is sometimes ...

.Le Conseil
, Conseil de la Souveraineté du Québec, accessed 23 April 2011.

2014 organisation

In December 2014, CSQ renamed to OUI (), aka ''OUI Québec'', and adopted a major revision of their mission.

References

External links

Conseil de la Souveraineté du Québec
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conseil de la Souverainete du Quebec Secessionist organizations in Canada Organizations based in Quebec