Fifty years after French President Charles de Gaulle shouted “Vive le Quebec libre!” to a massive crowd in Montreal, the city offered free tours of the balcony where the controversial declaration was made.
De Gaulle stirred up the sovereignty movement in Quebec with his inflammatory speech, delivered from the Montreal City Hall balcony on July 24, 1967, on the second day of his visit to Canada.
His visit coincided with the hugely successful Expo 67 in Montreal, and he compared the atmosphere in the city to what he saw in France after its liberation from Nazi rule. He then shouted: “Vive le Quebec. Vive le Quebec libre! Vive, vive, vive le Canada francais, et vive la France.”
The speech infuriated Lester B. Pearson, Canada’s prime minister at the time, and de Gaulle departed Canada without visiting Ottawa. One year later, the sovereigntist Parti Quebecois was founded.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of de Gaulle’s speech, the City of Montreal opened the famous balcony to the public on Monday. Free, 30-minute guided tours were offered until 4:30 p.m., in both French and English.
An estimated 400 people visited the balcony.
“Not many people talk about Quebec libre now, but it’s part of our history,” Montreal resident Raymond Tousignant told CTV Montreal.
Former Montreal police officer Tony Caro, who was on duty the day de Gaulle addressed the crowds, said he “just had to be here.”
The city is also displaying photos and archives from de Gaulle’s visit until Friday.
The balcony is not normally open to the public because it is part of a city hall office.
The city has denied the sovereigntist St-Jean-Baptiste Society’s request to re-enact de Gaulle’s speech on the balcony Monday. The city said the balcony should not be used for partisan political purposes.
Maxime Laporte of the St-Jean-Baptiste Society told CTV Montreal that de Gaulle’s words sparked hope for the sovereignty cause all those decades ago. He said it was the first time a foreign leader recognized Quebecers as a people.
Laurent Turcot, a professor at Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres, said it’s not surprising that Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, a former Liberal MP, declined the re-enactment request.
“To give combustible to that fire, we could see an uprising of the new sovereigntist movement,” Turcot told CTV News Channel Monday. “So we don’t want to see this.”
With files from CTV Montreal
