Je me souviens

Je me souviens (French pronunciation: ​[ʒə mə suˈvjɛ̃]) is the official motto of Quebec, a province of Canada. The motto means "I remember".

Origins

In 1883, Eugène-Étienne Taché, Assistant Commissioner for Crown lands in Quebec and architect of the provincial Parliament building had the motto carved in stone below the coat of arms of Quebec which appears above the Parliament Building's main entrance door. The motto then came into official use, even though the coat of arms was not adopted until 1939.

Meaning

Taché appears not to have left an explanation of the motto's intended meaning. He did however write a letter to Siméon Lesage, showing what he intended to accomplish with the statues on the building's façade and describing what they were intended to remind people of.

All around the Parliament building, are 24 statues of historical figures. They originally included founders (Jacques Cartier, Samuel de Champlain and de Maisonneuve), clerics (de Laval, de Brébeuf, Marquette and Olier), military men (de Frontenac, Wolfe, de Montcalm and de Levis), Amerindians, French governors (D'Argenson, de Tracy, de Callières, de Montmagny, d'Aillesbout, de Vaudreuil) and, in the words of Taché, "some English governors the most sympathetic to our nationality" (Murray, Dorchester, Prevost and Bagot) and Lord Elgin, who was given a special place for he was seen as an important player in obtaining "responsible government". Taché purposely left blank spaces to allow future generations to add their own statues.

Manu Militari

Manu Militari (born May 21, 1979) is a francophone rapper from Montreal, Quebec in Canada. His stage name is taken from the Latin phrase meaning "With a military hand".

After a tour that included India, Greece and the Middle East, he released his first EP in 2002 entitled Manu Drastic. He also founded the group Rime Organisé with whom he released the EP Règlements de comptes. In 2006, he released his second solo album Voix de fait that was nominated for "Best Author Compositor" and "Best Hip Hop Album" in Canada's Félix Awards. His 2009 album Crime d'honneur sold around 8,000 copies.

His 2012 single and music video for "L’Attente" created controversy with allegations it showed attacks by Afghans on Canadian troops in Afghanistan, telling the story from an Afghan fighter's perspective. The protests alleged this was a glorification of the Taliban and pinpointed to the fact that Manu Militari had received $110,000 in four years from MusicAction, a government-funded body. Manu Military withdraw the music video in question on 29 June 2012 days after the controversy.