If the answer to the question "What does Québec want?" is "Respect for Identity", then it can be given by a clear recognition of Québec in the Constitution of Canada as a nation, not as just another province. This will also avoid the use of controversial terms such as "distinct society" and "foyer principal".
The residents of Northwest Territories and Yukon Territories are no less Canadian citizens than the residents of the 10 provinces. I believe that a creative and ingenious Canadian solution is to rename "Province of Québec" to "Nation of Québec". After all, the Québec legislature is called the "National Assembly".
Such a clarification eliminates the inconsistency, once and for all, of having a nation within a nation. Canada would cease to be a "nation", but it would be a decentralised "country" with core values like citizenship and individual rights with Charter of Rights and 2 Official Languages.
Canada could then allow each unit (nation, province, territory) to draft its own constitution, subject to the Constitution of Canada. The absence of "distinct society" in the Constitution of Canada allows each unit to define its own distinctiveness, like culture, legal system and institutions, in its own constitution. The Constitution of Canada should guarantee fundamental principles like accessibility, compatibility, portability and minimum standards for every aspect of government services at all levels.
Graphical Representation of Restructured Federation for Multiple-Choice Referendum Question
