October Crisis - 1970
On October 5, 1970, British trade commissioner James Cross was kidnapped in his Westmount
home by members of the terrorist group Front de liberation du Quebec (FLQ).
The FLQ Manifesto called for non-democratic separation to be brought about by acts of terror.
From 1963 to 1967, the FLQ planted 35 bombs; from 1968 to 1970 they planted over 50 bombs.
By the fall of 1970 the terrorist acts of the FLQ cells had claimed 6 lives.
The kidnappers' demands included the release of a number of convicted or detained FLQ
members and the broadcasting of the FLQ Manifesto.
The Manifesto was read on Radio-Canada. Then, on October 10th, the Quebec minister of justice
guaranteed safe passage to anywhere in the world for the kidnappers in exchange for the safe
release of Cross.
That same day Pierre Laporte, a famed Quebec reporter, author of The
True Face of Duplessis, and the minister of immigration and labour in
the Quebec government, was kidnapped by a different FLQ cell on the
lawn of his suburban home.
Laporte's kidnapping triggered a phone call from Liberal Premier
Robert Bourassa asking Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to prepare the
Canadian Armed Forces for action in Quebec and to declare War
Measures. Two days later, October 12, Trudeau summoned armed
troops to guard potential targets in Ottawa and Montreal such as cabinet
ministers, John Diefenbaker, who was on the FLQ hit list, and federal
buildings.
On the following day, October 13, Peter Reilly of CJOH and I were at the west door of the
Centre Block of the House of Commons. Reilly was asking Trudeau some basic questions in a
laconic, unemotional style about the army and tanks being in Ottawa.
Suddenly we were joined by CBC reporter Tim Ralfe who asked Trudeau a very emotional
question about his decision to invoke the War Measures Act.
An angry Trudeau replied: "There's a lot of bleeding hearts around
who just don't like to see people with helmets and guns. All I can say
is go on and bleed."
"How far are you going to go?" Ralfe insisted.
"Just watch me!" said Trudeau.
And Canadians across the country watched as, at 3 o'clock in the morning, Friday, October 16,
Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act. The Press Gallery was packed. Trudeau was careful,
cold, analytic - and brilliant.
The invocation of the War Measures Act meant the suspension of traditional Canadian civil
liberties. Anyone belonging to the FLQ, or to any cultural or political association suspected of
being linked to the FLQ, could be rounded up in the dead of night without a search warrant and
incarcerated without the right of habeas corpus. Under the sweeping authority of the act, 465
Canadians were so rounded up.
A day later, on Saturday October 17th, the body of Pierre Laporte was
found stuffed in the trunk of a green Chevrolet. In Ottawa, government
sources said the FLQ assassinated Laporte because War Measures was
enacted.
The tension that night was palpable. John Turner, the minister of
justice, looked distraught. In his office, Trudeau ministers Gerard
Pelletier and Jean Marchand were weeping openly at the death of an old friend and colleague.
Early in December 1970, police discovered the location of the kidnappers holding James Cross.
He was released after his FLQ captors were given safe passage to Cuba.
Four weeks later Paul Rose and the kidnappers of Pierre Laporte were found in the corner of a
country basement. They were tried and convicted for kidnapping and murder.
The October Crisis was the first time in Canadian history the state itself, both in Ottawa and in
Quebec City, was held to ransom by extremists and terrorists. It was also the first time, in peace
time, that Ottawa invoked War Measures.
It was a drastic step to take and one laced with very dangerous side effects.
In the guilt-by-association atmosphere engendered by War Measures hysteria, the terrorism and
extremism of the separatist FLQ tarnished all separatist movements in Quebec.
Also, Rene Levesque's flat refusal to countenance or tolerate FLQ terrorism ultimately enabled
Quebecers to see democratic separatism as an option they could live with.
In the end, the cold shoulder shown to the FLQ by both Trudeau and Levesque, despite their
bitter differences, completely destroyed the FLQ.
By the time the crisis had ended, Quebecers and Canadians had for the first time seen a federal
government willing to take extreme measures to fight - and fight very hard indeed - for
federalism in Canada.
by Larry Zolf
CBC NEWS ONLINE
http://www.cbc.ca/millennium/timelines/feature_octobercrisis.html
Questions:
1. What was the importance of the October Crisis of 1970 on the Quebec sovereignty
movement?
2. If you were in charge of the government of Canada what would you have done when
Quebec premier Robert Bourassa asked for help from the federal government after the
kidnappings took place?
3. Why did Rene Levesque, leader of the Parti Quebecois and of the Quebec separatist
movement, distance himself from the FLQ and its tactics?
4. Would you say the people involved in the kidnapping of Pierre Laporte and James Cross
were freedom fighters or terrorists? Explain.
5. Trudeau was known to have an anti-military ideology. Why, then, would he say, "There's
a lot of bleeding hearts around who just don't like to see people with helmets and guns.
All I can say is go on and bleed."
Questions:
1. What was the importance of the October Crisis of 1970 on the Quebec sovereignty
movement?
2. If you were in charge of the government of Canada what would you have done when
Quebec premier Robert Bourassa asked for help from the federal government after the
kidnappings took place?
3. Why did Rene Levesque, leader of the Parti Quebecois and of the Quebec separatist
movement, distance himself from the FLQ and its tactics?
4. Would you say the people involved in the kidnapping of Pierre Laporte and James Cross
were freedom fighters or terrorists? Explain.
5. Trudeau was known to have an anti-military ideology. Why, then, would he say, "There's
a lot of bleeding hearts around who just don't like to see people with helmets and guns.
All I can say is go on and bleed."
Questions:
1. What was the importance of the October Crisis of 1970 on the Quebec sovereignty
movement?
2. If you were in charge of the government of Canada what would you have done when
Quebec premier Robert Bourassa asked for help from the federal government after the
kidnappings took place?
3. Why did Rene Levesque, leader of the Parti Quebecois and of the Quebec separatist
movement, distance himself from the FLQ and its tactics?
4. Would you say the people involved in the kidnapping of Pierre Laporte and James Cross
were freedom fighters or terrorists? Explain.
5. Trudeau was known to have an anti-military ideology. Why, then, would he say, "There's
a lot of bleeding hearts around who just don't like to see people with helmets and guns.
All I can say is go on and bleed."