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."

Étienne-Paschal Taché, of "last cannon shot fame", is widely credited with having first coined the phrase. In 1883, Eugène-Étienne Taché, Assistant Commissioner for Crown lands in Quebec and architect of the provincial Parliament building, and son of Etienne-Paschal, 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.

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.

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