In 2011, Guernica Editions published a series of essays entitled Minority Report: An Alternative History of English-Language Arts in Quebec. This landmark review noted that English-language writers in the 1970s were squeezed between two nationalisms: the growing separatist movement in Quebec and burgeoning literary nationalism in Toronto. In 1985, La Presse announced that English theatre was practically dead. Also, in 2011, the research team of Canadian Heritage's official language support programs branch produced a statistical profile of artists in the OLMCs. The average percentage of artists in Canada's workforce is 0.65%. The majority French-speaking population is slightly lower than average at 0.56%, and the majority English-speaking population is slightly higher than average, at 0.68%. The highest concentration of artists in Canada is found among English-speaking artists in Quebec, at 0.99%, roughly 50% higher than the national average. This statistic reflects a remarkable transformation from a community of artists that was invisible and almost dead 30 years go.
Allow us to give you a brief overview of some of the social and economic forces responsible for this transformation.