Waving Fleur-de-lis flags, singing Gens du pays and chanting nationalist slogans, a mass of demonstrators took to Montreal streets on Saturday, rallying for an independent Quebec days ahead of the 30th anniversary of the movement’s razor-thin defeat in the 1995 referendum.

The crowd of several hundred was largely filled with young people — The Gazette spoke to several between the ages of 16 and 18 — who proclaimed themselves proud sovereignists ready to vote Yes in a future independence referendum.

“You look at history, you look at the language, which is disappearing, you learn the culture and sovereignism comes naturally,” said Jeanne Guillemette, 17.

When she announced her support for the cause in Secondary 2, “I was teased,” she said.

Now, “supporting independence is in style.”

Thi

See Full Page