Origins of The Special Committee
The Special Committee for Canadian Unity was the brainchild of Stephen Scott and grandfather of the Unity Movement that sprang up during and after the ‘95 referendum. The SCCU was non-partisan, in that it accepted membership from any organization or individual that shared its aims. Those aims included the stated preference for an indivisible Canada, the establishment by the Courts that a Quebec UDI was unconstitutional, and the territorial division of Quebec in the event of negotiated secession. In December of 1994, the Special Committee requested that Prime Minister Jean Chrétien seek the opinion of the Supreme Court on the matter of secession, before the referendum expected that fall. In February 1995 Prime Minister Chrétien refused. In January ‘95, the Special Committee conducted a press conference on Jacques Parizeau’s UDI intentions contained in the Draft Bill on the Sovereignty of Quebec. The Special Committee announced, in the words of the Toronto Star, that “many Quebecers …won’t comply with this unconstitutional and illegal law” and that the Committee would be taking the Draft Bill to court. In separatist circles, the press conference provoked no small degree of consternation. Separatist Ed Bantey opened the charge by suggesting that Special Committee Founder Stephen Scott be dismissal from his McGill law faculty job.