My mother and I were home in Orleans, just east of the Canadian
national capital, watching the results broadcast live on television as the
votes were tabulated, the yes and no sides exchanging leads back and
forth. Even before the network announced the final tally—a razor-thin
margin of 54,288 votes rejecting secession out of 4,671,008 valid ballots
cast—the closeness of the vote and the emotions that accompanied it
yielded only one certainty: the Canada I knew would change no matter
the outcome.
We are still today living the consequences of the turbulent referendum
campaign and its culminating vote. The strength of the support in
Quebec for independence surprised Canadians in all corners of the land,
and it has reawakened the country to the pressing challenge of internal
reconciliation. And yet the secession referendum also reopened wounds
that for many have yet to heal and perhaps never will, further deepening
old fault lines that continue to divide Canadians.