Of course Quebec is different, like in everything else...
This stems from the early days of New France when attorneys (who were seen as corrupt in France) were forbidden to practice in the colony by the King. Notaries did most of the things that those of us used to common law associate with lawyers (mostly drawing up contracts - it wasn't New England with a large population) as well as sitting as judges. Other judges (when they weren't temporarily on loan from the mother country) were prominent local businessmen. No law schools, all notarial training was either done in France, or through apprenticeship.
After Conquest, English (and American) lawyers emigrated but had trouble practicing in the colony since it was still a civil, not common law system; also there was the language problem. Little by little common law practices crept into usage, and there was a dual system for awhile, then you had the problem of Upper Canada and massive Loyalist immigration. I'm sure you know most of the rest from school, but what it leave us in Quebec with is notaries with - what someone like me sees since even though I am a legal historian, I didn't grow up in this system - as "extended" powers, doing much of the work that lawyers do in other provinces/states. If you want to practice in Quebec AND elsewhere in NA, it's a 4 year program, not 3 like elsewhere because of this - fun.
ETA: Canada's geography and far-flung communities had other people doing legal work from the beginning. Many of the documents that I use in my work are drawn up by priests, not notaries, especially if the community was far from an urban area, or it was wintertime. Let me tell you, priests have much better writing!