On Sunday, Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia and the further breaking up of what was once Yugoslavia was naturally major news around the globe.
As was expected, many countries immediately recognized the breakaway province, or promised that they would in due course. Other countries such as Russia, Spain, Cyprus, Greece, and of course Serbia refused to recognize Kosovo’s independent existence.
Canada is still considering whether or not to give the new country recognition. The government obviously wants to recognize Kosovo, but does not want to give aid and comfort to the Quebec separatists who now feel that they are a step closer to a unilateral declaration of independence for a sovereign Quebec. What will inevitably happen is that during some world crisis or major Canadian scandal, the government will quietly grant recognition to the Balkan country and hope that no one is paying any attention.
Much of the international media focused on Spain and its refusal to recognize an independent Kosovo. Spain’s reason for refusing recognition is because they have separatist troubles of their own. Both the militant Basques and the Catalonia region have separatist movements, and Spain does not want to do anything that would legitimize a unilateral declaration of independence. Spain’s position is similar to that of Canada and Quebec.
Some, most notably Liberal leader Stéphane Dion argue that Kosovo’s independence should be recognized by Canada and that its situation bears absolutely no resemblance to the situation in Quebec and Canada. Dion cites the differences between the two that borders on the absurd. Unlike Kosovo, Quebeckers have not been oppressed like the Kosovars have and there are currently no NATO forces keeping the peace in Quebec. The Liberal leader forgot to mention that Kosovo doesn’t have a law requiring all signs to be in French and that there is a five-hour time difference between Pristina and Quebec City. The differences go on ad infinitum. But as PQ MLA Daniel Turp pointed out, the only relevant factor is that a territory can separate and gain independence that will be recognized by much of the world as long as this independence reflects the will of the people in that territory. It doesn’t matter what the original country that it was part of thinks about it.
Outside of Canada, the Canada/Quebec situation, unlike that of Spain, was ignored by the world’s media. And it is hardly likely that Canada was ignored because of the perceived differences between the two countries or differences between Canada and Serbia as outlined by Dion. It was because Canada, the country that prides itself on being a well respected middle power simply wasn’t deemed important enough to mention by the world press. Every possible future independent state from the Basque region of Spain to the Palestinian territories was mentioned at some point in the media as having the independence of Kosovo possibly affect their futures. Everywhere, except in Canada. The harsh reality is that rather than being hated around the world as the United States is, we are simply ignored; not worth mentioning despite the fact of our sucking up to international bodies especially while under the rule of the Liberals.
Whether Dion wants to believe it or not, if Quebecers ever voted to separate from Canada in a vote with an unambiguous question that was found to be fair, the province could separate and gain international recognition despite the position of the Canadian government. But would anyone notice?
Even though Canada is not under attack from Quebec separatists the way Spain is by the Basques, both countries have regions of their respective countries that have significant separatist movements. Yet Spain is constantly mentioned within the context of Kosovo while Canada isn’t.
It is interesting to speculate that if Quebec does separate from Canada one day, if other countries would even notice.
