The Quebec tartan was designed in 1965, the same year as the Ontario tartan. Every province in Canada has adopted an official tartan. Although the Quebec tartan has been in existence for 56 years it has never been adopted by the Quebec government. Quebec is the only province not to have adopted a plaid.
A petition is circulating to request that the adoption of the tartan take place. It can be done on line by going to https://www.assnat.qc.ca/en/exprimez-votre-opinion/petition/Petition-9339/index.html After signing on line, a confirmation notice will be sent to your email, and that notice will have to be confirmed. Then your “signing” will have been confirmed. There are several paper copies of the petition in circulation. The petitions will need to be in before Feb. 10.
It is worth noting that the first Scottish immigrants settled in Quebec over 400 years ago. (Both Wolfe and Montcalm had Scottish second-in-commands!) The Scottish community in Quebec has contributed significantly to the economic, social, and cultural development of the province. In education, Quebec is the only province in which its school system is based on the Scottish model of elementary and high school. Everywhere else in North America it is the English based system of elementary, middle school, and high school.
The Quebec tartan, which is numbered 1949 in the Scottish Register of Tartans, was designed to represent the Quebec coat of arms. The blue is for the upper division which contains three fleur de lys, The green is for the sprig of maple leaves on the lower division. The gold is for the lion passant in the middle division and also for the crown of the crest. The white represents the scroll with the motto “Je me souviens.”
In December 2003 the National Assembly proclaimed April 6 as Tartan Day in recognition of Scottish immigrants. Yet the province of Quebec remains the only province which has not adopted an official tartan.
It only takes a few minutes to fill out the petition online. Help to make the adoption a reality.
