Québécois (kay-bay-kwah) is the adjective which refers to that which comes from the
Canadian province of
Québec. Traditionally, the Québécois people are
francophone, and have a history of
agriculture and
logging. Of course, not all Québécois live in
Québec, and many Québécois identify much more as such than as
Canadians,
French-Canadians, or even
francophones. Only those actually from
France will identify as
French. The immigration into Québec is almost exclusively into three hubs:
Montréal,
Québec City, and
Gatineau. This makes for split cities where to get by you need not know the other language, but to succeed you may need both.
stewacide maintains that Canadian anglophones would most likely identify anybody in the province as 'Quebeckers', and would reserve the use of 'Québécois' for 'ethnic Quebeckers' (those who are white, francophone, and Catholic). Generally, however, First Nations people in the province of Québec will identify first as their indigenous group, then as Québécois, then as Canadian. Immigrant populations would identify as their immigrant group or as Canadian first, and would identify with their province last.
The feminine of Québécois, almost never used in English, is Québécoise (kay-bay-kwahze). The theory is that one would say "The Québécoise woman entered the room." The practice is that one does not.
Québécois and Québécoise alike are most likely in Canada to be smokers*, at 27%. This, compared to British Columbia at a low, low 17%. Further, Québecois smokers smoke the highest average number of cigarettes, at 17.4 per day.
Québecois(e) entertainers:
Céline Dion
Daniel Léveillé
David Pressault
Gilles Vigneault
La Compagnie Médiévale
L'ensemble des Lutins Luthiers
Mordechai Richler
Other famous Québécois(es):
Benjamin Sulte
Denys Arcand
Éric Godin
François Lanctôt
Gaetan Dugas
Jean Chrétien
Jean Lesage
Jean-Paul Riopelle
Léon Provancher
Marjorie Péloquin
Monique Bégin
Pierre Pettigrew
Roch Voisine
*
Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey 2002 data.