Establishing Effective Representation and a Protected District for Anglophones in Brome-Missisquoi

Abstract

Anglophones of Brome-Missisquoi once had a strong regional identity. The community presently is on the decline, which perpetuates the loss of representation in Quebec’s political institutions. Inspired by the concept of “consociational districting”, the purpose of this thesis is to establish how Anglophones in Brome-Missisquoi can be effectively represented in Quebec politics. Following the theory of path dependency; the cases of Saskatchewan v Carter (1991), Raîche v. Canada (2004) and the Acadian Nova Scotia electoral boundary case (2012) establish the legal jurisprudence for Anglo-Quebecers to acquire institutional protection as guaranteed in Section 3 of the Canadian Charter and through the provisions to protect communities of interest in both federal and provincial electoral commission laws. Solutions to guarantee the effective representation of Anglophones, include; establishing a protected electoral district for Anglophones in Brome-Missisquoi, increasing the seat capacity in Quebec’s National Assembly and appointing more diverse members to Quebec’s Commission.