MONTREAL - Two decades after the death of the Meech Lake accord, Quebec sovereigntists say a deep rift remains between the province and the rest of Canada.

The possibility of reforms to Canadian federalism is simply an illusion for Quebecers, Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe told a party meeting on Saturday.

"Canadians have moved on to other things," he said. "They build their country as they see fit, that's all. They're no longer open to satisfying the ambitions of Quebecers. Federalism is a dead end for Quebec."

He said a recent poll published by a sovereigntist organization only served to confirm what he witnessed during his cross Canada trip last month - that very few people outside Quebec are willing to re-open the constitutional debate.

The poll suggested that while 82 per cent of Quebecers favoured a new round of constitutional talks designed to get Quebec's signature on the Constitution, only 39 per cent of other Canadians felt the same way.

It also indicated only 17 per cent of Canadians outside Quebec thought the Constitution should recognize the province as a nation. Some 73 per cent of Quebecers polled agreed with the statement.

Pierre Drouilly, who helped author the poll, said Canadians believe many of these concerns can be resolved -- but they aren't willing to re-open the debate.

"They don't want to talk about it," he said.

The poll, commissioned by the Bloc and a sovereigntist association, has a margin of error of three percentage points, 19 times out of 20. One-thousand Quebecers and 1,000 other Canadians were surveyed.

Duceppe said talk of the Constitution "often solicited a shrug of the shoulders" when he mentioned it during his recent Canadian tour.

His words were echoed by Philip Resnick, a University of British Columbia professor who participated in Saturday's meeting.

He said Canadians have swept constitutional talks under the rug, even while it remains a bone of contention with some Quebecers.

During Duceppe's British Columbia visit, the province's residents were surprised when the Bloc leader mentioned the decades-old debate.

"The first reaction was: 'Huh?' We thought all that was over,"' said Resnick. "Here, the term 'two solitudes' is appropriate."

Duceppe said the two national solitudes have grown even more distant since Meech Lake -- and that new concerns over environmental policy and a proposed readjustment of seats in the House of Commons only serve to underscore the growing rift.

Quebec -- along with Ontario and British Columbia -- went into the recent climate-change summit in Copenhagen criticizing the federal government over their greenhouse gas reduction targets.

Ottawa is also planning to give more seats in the House of Commons to the fast-growing provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, which would dilute Quebec's power.

"They're changing the rules of the game so they no longer have to take Quebec into account," Duceppe told the crowd.

The Meech Lake accord was a constitutional deal proposed by Brian Mulroney Conservative government in the 1980s.

It would have recognized Quebec as a distinct society but died in June 1990 after failing to secure the support of all provinces.

This year marks a number of significant anniversaries for the sovereignty movement, from the Meech Lake anniversary and the subsequent election of Duceppe, to the 30th anniversary of the 1980 sovereignty referendum and the 15th of the failed 1995 referendum.

But support for sovereignty in the province has stalled in recent years.

Saturday's event was held without the presence of the Bloc's founder, Lucien Bouchard, despite the key role he played in the Meech Lake proceedings.

Bouchard, who resigned from the federal cabinet in May 1990 following a report recommending reforms to Meech aimed at satisfying some of its adversaries, has recently distanced himself from the Quebec independence movement, saying in February the province should focus on more pressing issues because sovereignty isn't achievable in the short term.

Still, Duceppe believes that 20 years after Meech, Quebecers are left with two options -- sovereignty or the status quo.

"When we talk about the future for Quebec, the existence of the Quebec nation, it's dishonest to pretend that federalism may one day work for Quebec," he said.

According to Resnick, things will likely remain at an impasse for the foreseeable future.

"We've managed 150 years of this," he said. "My own hunch is at the moment there's not a majority for sovereignty in Quebec. But the issue isn't going away."