I'll expand a bit on Nio Kasgami's post about Quebec and Canada since I'm from up there too.
Quebec was officially founded by France at the turn of the 17th century, although that territory had been french for over 50 years already. France was and arguably still is a horrible motherland: for France, its colonies and territories are just resource providers and it doesn't care much for them. This explains that although older than the english colonies, by the end of that century, New France had a population of about 400 vs 40 000 for New England, although our territory was multiple times larger. This caused us to create a unique partnership with the local aboriginal peoples, taking them as our brothers and sisters. This is not as much the case today for various reasons, but most "native quebeckers" have some measure of aboriginal blood in them.
Then the hundred years war came to an end and we were conquered / given away to England. Ironically, this is what allowed us to really develop. What also helped us out is the american revolution: England was so terrified we'd join up that they gave us special leeway and favorable treatment, allowing us to keep speaking french and remain catholics, among other things. As for the englishmen of Canada, they are mostly the descendants of american loyalists who didn't want to be part of the revolution and remained loyal to the crown. They settled in the south of Quebec and in what is now known as Ontario.
Interesting bit of trivia 1: For the most part, our accent is different from France's because we kept the royal tongue. Back in the day, France would speak more or less like we do, but then ties were cut and, in the mean time, they had their own revolution. Symbolically, they switched to the middle-class accent. We didn't know anything about this and were mostly concerned about keeping our french intact and good quality, but when communication channels with France were open anew, they thought we talked an outdated and archaic form of french.
Interesting bit of trivia 2: Canada is an aboriginal word that means "cluster of huts" or "village". It was ours (quebeckers) from the beginning. We were the canadians, and all its symbols were exclusively our own: the beaver, the maple leaf (most maple syrup producers are located in Quebec and a bit in northern Ontario), the red color, the national anthem, etc. The english canadians didn't even consider themselves canadian for a very, very long time. AS far as I know, they thought of themselves as english, as did we. The change dates from the mid-19th century when the crown named their territory "upper-canada" and it grew on them. We still were not of the same people and, by the mid-20th century, seeing how we were not the canadians anymore, we rebuilt a new identity as "quebeckers", with new symbols and all. Well it sounds very sudden and everything, but really it was a long and evolving process that took decennies to happen.
So more or less we were forced into Canada as we know it. Canadian politics has always been a tug-o-war between the provinces and between the provincial and federal governments, with the federal always having the legislative upper-hand. It's also a tug-o-war between the conservative westerners in the plains and the progressive french canadians in Quebec. In fact, there is only one thing that has ever united all of Canada: it is bashing Quebec, backstabbing and belittling us. If you look at riding-based maps that show the people's opinion on various matters, it's almost always Quebec being very very favorable to something and the rest of Canada being very very unfavorable to it, or vice versa, with the west being more at odds and Ontario sometimes being somewhat in the middle (but generally still leaning west).
Well, time's up, maybe I'll be back with more info sometime later
Sorry if it's too much of an history lesson :/
Edit:
Ok, let's keep going with more random trivia about Quebec
Obviously we speak french. Our national symbol is the Fleur de lys, which hints to France (it was the symbols of the french monarchy. People from France are a bit disturbed by the fact we chose it, to them it's outdated and retrogressive). Same applies to the color blue, to a lesser extent.
Here is our national flag, by the way.
So of course, we're more or less the only french-speaking place in North America. All other french-speaking pockets across Canada and the US are and have been disappearing progressively. The other place that still somewhat speaks french would be the canadian province of New Brunswick, formerly known as Acadia, but honnestly they are largely bilingual and their french is a bit butchered, sadly... By the way, as a means to assimilate us, in the beginings, England deported a bunch of Acadians far to the south. They founded the city of la Nouvelle Orléans, better known as New Orleans. The word "acadian" was butchered by englishmen and slowly transformed into... cajun! Yeah, the Cajuns in the bayous are descendants from the deported french people from Acadia
Anyway, The language difference really separates us from the rest of the continent: we have our own culture, songs, television, star system, etc. We also come from a background of being belittled and "oppressed". At a certain time, they used to call us the "white ******s of America", to give you an idea. Anyway, we're by and large a very peaceful, progressive and free thinking people. To give you an idea, our recent history includes an event we call the quiet revolution: it was a change of paradigm akin to a revolution, as mentality evolved, churches emptied and we became more of a social-democracy and it gave rise to the idea of independence (although it is a latent theme throughout our history), but it was done quietly, without much in the way of protests, civil unrest or violence. That's just the kind of people we are. Also, we're pretty much governed by the republican ideal, although our theoretical government leader is still the Queen of England, even though they are seldom welcome here (in Quebec; the rest of Canada still seems to be crazy about its Queen, for some reason). The crown is largely ignored here, if not outright despised. Also, on paper we're catholics, but as I said churches are deserted, today we're a mostly laic people/society.
Our cities are mainly built along the St-Lawrence river, which was the country's main point of entry for a long time. It is also a natural valley where the climate is more temperate and the soil more fertile. The northern territory is much more rocky and largely consists of forests. Our capital city is Quebec, which happens to be the
oldest city in North America and the
only fortified one. Another well-known city is of course Montreal. We also happen to have one of the only fjords in North America,
Saguenay River. Quebec has a lot of lakes and rivers. In fact, we have about 3% of the world's sweet water reserves, about 13 times more sweet water per person than the US. Incidentally, we have a lot of hydroelectricity. In fact we use it almost exclusively.
Climate-wise, as Nio said, we have long winters (about 6 months). At the coldest, it can be about -30 to -40 celsius. Summer is also kinda hot, with temperatures between 30 to 35 degrees celsius. The thing is, our climate is pretty humid, so the colds are biting and the heats are heavy and crushing. But our homes, cars and society are well-made and adapted, we are actually pretty comfortable. Living with the cold and several feet of snow is a way of life and I wouldn't relinquish it. I actually prefer winter over summer any day of the year. As a scout organizer (ok, I don't know how to call this in english: I coach a bunch of teen scouts) we even go camping in winter, without heaters or tents. We just bring tools, food, water, clothes and "plastic covers" (something else I don't know how to say in english) and
we camp in the woods for a whole weekend. The kids are 12-14 years old.
We're also a very creative people. For the sake of curiosity, here are a few things that were invented in Quebec: the wonderbra, the airless feeding-bottle, the starfrit products, peanut butter, the telephone compound (combining the transmitter and the receiver) and 3d puzzles, only to name those
If you have any question or whatever, it'd be my pleasure to inform you. Sorry if this was too long or not really what you were looking for.
