Article
Quebec
Motto: Je me souviens (I remember)
Quebec is the only province whose tartan has not been officially adopted. Known as the Plaid of Quebec (French: Plaid du Quebec), it was designed in 1965 by Rotex Ltd, which also designed the tartan of Ontario in the same year. Its colours are derived from the province's coat of arms, with blue from the upper division, green for the three maple leaves, red from the centre division, gold for the crown and lion passant, and white for the scroll containing the province's motto.
Quebec is the only Canadian province that has a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one to have French as its sole provisional official language. Quebec is Canada’s largest province by area. It is bordered to the west by the province of Ontario, James Bay and Hudson Bay, to the north by Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay, to the east by the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick. It is bordered on the south by the US states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York.
The name ‘Québec’, which comes from the Algonquin word ‘kebec’ meaning ‘where the river narrows, originally referred to the area around Quebec City where the Saint Lawrence River narrows to a cliff-lined gap. French explorer Samuel de Champlain chose the name Quebec in 1608 for the colony of New France. The province is sometimes referred to as ‘La belle province’.
The Province of Quebec was founded in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 after the Treaty of Paris formally transferred the French colony of Canada to Britain after the Seven Years War. After the Constitutional Act of 1791, the territory was divided between Lower Canada (present day Quebec) and Upper Canada (present day Ontario). They were one of the first provinces in the Confederation in 1867.
Choose from one of the Quebec tartans listed below:
