Je me souviens

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Image:Je me souviens.jpg Je me souviens is the official motto of the Province of Quebec, Canada. The literal translation of the French phrase in English is "I remember". The motto is displayed on the coat of arms of Quebec, and on automobile licence plates issued by the province (where it replaced La Belle Province, meaning "The Beautiful Province"). Both the coat of arms and the motto were fashioned by the French Canadian architect Eugène-Étienne Taché during his career as the Assistant Commissioner for Crown Lands for Quebec.

The motto appears right under the coat of arms at the entrance of the Parliament Building in Quebec City. All around the building, there are many historical figures including French ones such as Samuel de Champlain and Jacques Cartier, English ones such as General James Wolfe and Lord Elgin, governor general of Canada, and also some from the First Nations. Eugène-Étienne Taché also left blank spaces to allow future generations to add their own, such as Maurice Duplessis and René Lévesque.

Even though Taché did not explicitly explain the meaning of Je me souviens, over time the slogan has taken a nationalist tint, and it is widely taken to mean "I remember my French history and heritage" or, even, "I remember what the English did to the French". There is a persistent story that the full quotation from Taché is "Je me souviens que né sous le lys, je croîs sous la rose" ("I remember that born under the lily, I grew under the rose" -- referring to the floral emblems of France and England); however, this is unsupported by historical evidence. Taché is indeed the source of the two halves of the quotation, but he is not recorded as fusing them into one sentiment.<ref>Blog "On the Fence"</ref>

This motto has sometimes been used by political factions influential in the province; recently, it was taken up by the défusionnistes protesting the forced annexation or fusion of certain municipalities into a regional capital. They put bumper stickers onto their cars proclaiming Je me souviendrai des fusions forcées! ("I will remember the forced annexations!").

Je me souviens is also the motto of the Royal 22^e Régiment.