Mississippi’s legislature passed concurrent friendship resolutions honoring the state’s relationship with Québec, Canada’s only majority francophone province.
State Senator Brice Wiggins (R-Jackson County) said the resolution emphasized the long historical and cultural connection between Québec and Mississippi, especially on the Gulf Coast. The region was settled by French-Canadian explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville in 1699.
Shamira Muhammad
“That then led to Mobile and New Orleans being founded,” Wiggins said. “So, we claim Ocean Springs as the first French settlement in America.”
Québec operates nine U.S. offices. Nathalie Rivard is the province's chief representative to the southeastern U.S.
“Part of our office mandate is to foster economic, diplomatic, and cultural ties between Quebec and the six states that we cover, and there's a lot of trade and investment between Québec and the state of Mississippi,” she said.
Rivard sees the resolution as an effort to highlight existing commercial partnerships between Québec and Mississippi.
“The Canadian National Railway is headquartered in Montreal, and it employs more or less 500 Mississippians,” she said. “Just last year alone, it invested $75 million in the states.”
Rivard said there are several other Québecois companies operating in the state already that may be familiar to Mississippians, like Circle K.
“There's a lot more between Mississippi and Québec than people know and we want to do more,” she said. “I guess that today's resolution was a bilateral wish to dig deeper. In the energy sector, Québec has a lot of companies and or expertise that could be exported.”
Wiggins is optimistic about that sector.
“Speaking of energy, down by me, you have, of course, Chevron, which is its largest refinery, then you have what is known as Gulf LNG, liquid natural gas,” he said. “You have this energy sector which is huge and is part of the Gulf of America. So partnering with Québec , it's a natural symbiosis there.”
Rivard also expects the province to invest in the aerospace and defense sectors. For now, she’s already been inspired by her first Mississippi visit.
“This is the first time I’ve spent this much time in Mississippi and in Jackson,” she said in French. “The people are wonderful: welcoming and warm. I don’t have a favorite state, but they've raised the bar.”