As Andrewl already pointed out, we already have one such "nation" within Canada.

And States don't have a monopoly on 'nations'. Nations can (and often do) transcend States.

The very concept of a 'nation-state' is arbitrary and artificial. States are not equal to nations and nations are not equal to states. They are two different things (that can be explosively dangerous when combined and manipulated).

All in all, the concept of Quebec being recognised as a nation is not at all controversial up here. Anyone who denies the reality of it is a idiot who knows nothing about Canadian politics.

What is controversial is the Constitutional definition of any such assertion or recognition of the nation of Quebecois. This is what people like myself refer to as the Meech Lake nightmare (redux).