FLQ Crisis

The October Crisis was a series of events triggered by two terrorist kidnappings by members of the Front de libération du Québec in October 1970, which ultimately resulted in a brief invocation of the War Measures Act by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

Québec Premier Robert Bourassa, and the Mayor of Montreal, Jean Drapeau, requested that the Government of Canada invoke the War Measures Act, providing far-reaching powers for police. In recent years, because of the parallel requisitioning of the military "in aid of the civil power" by the Premier of Quebec, in the October Crisis, it has been mistakenly thought of as invoking martial law.

Background

Since 1963, the terrorist Quebec nationalist group Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) had perpetrated in excess of 200 violent crimes, including several bombings resulting in the deaths of six people. The largest single bombing was of the Montreal Stock Exchange on 13 February 1969, which caused extensive damage and injured 27 persons. The FLQ also stole several tons of explosives from military and industrial sites. Financed by bank robberies, they threatened the public through their official communication organ, known as La Cognée.

The Canadian Army was directly affected by several bomb attacks. Warrant Officer Class II Walter "Rocky" Leja of 3 Field Engineer Regiment in Westmount, Quebec was gravely injured on 17 May 1963 by an FLQ mailbox bomb which exploded in his hands as he was attempting to disarm it. That same year, Gabriel Hudon and Raymond Villeneuve were sentenced to 12 years in prison after a bomb of their creation killed Wilfred O'Neill, a watchman at Montreal's Canadian Army Recruitment Centre.

By 1970, 23 members of the FLQ were in jail, including four members convicted of murder. On 26 February 1970, two men (one of them named Jacques Lanctôt) in a panel truck were arrested in Montreal when they were discovered to be in possession of a sawed-off shotgun and a communiqué announcing the kidnapping of the Israeli consul. In June, police raided a home in the small community of Prévost north of Montreal in the Laurentian mountains and found firearms, ammunition, 300 pounds of dynamite, detonators, and the draft of a ransom note to be used in the kidnapping of the American consul.¹

	On the night of 16-17 May 1963, fifteen bombs were placed in mailboxes throughout Westmount, as part of the escalating FLQ crisis in Montreal. One of them seriously injured WO II Walter Leja when it exploded as he tried to disarm it. He was later awarded the George Medal by Queen Elizabeth II.
		Squadron Sergeant Major Walter Leja.

Timeline

• October 5: Montreal, Quebec: British Trade Commissioner James Cross is kidnapped by members of the "Liberation Cell" of the FLQ. This was followed by a communiqué to the authorities that contained the kidnappers' demands, which included the release of a number of convicted or detained terrorists and the CBC broadcast of the FLQ Manifesto. The terms of the ransom note were the same as those found in June for the planned kidnapping of the U.S. consul. At the time, the police did not connect the two.

• October 8: Broadcast of the FLQ Manifesto in all French- and English-speaking media outlets in Quebec.

• October 10: Montreal, Quebec: Members of the Chenier Cell approach the home of Pierre Laporte while he played football with his nephew. Laporte, the Minister of Labour and Vice-Premier of Quebec is kidnapped by members of the "Chenier cell" of the FLQ;

• October 11: The CBC broadcasts a letter from captivity from Pierre Laporte to the Premier of Quebec, Robert Bourassa.

• October 13: Prime Minister Trudeau is interviewed by the CBC in respect of the military presence. In a combative interview, Trudeau asks the reporter what he would do in his place, and when asked how far he would go replies "Just watch me".

• October 15: Quebec City: The Government of Quebec, solely responsible for law and order, formally requisitions the intervention of the Canadian army in "aid of the civil power", as is its right alone under the National Defence Act. All three opposition parties, including the Parti Québécois rise in the National Assembly and agree with the decision. On the same day, separatist groups are permitted to speak at the Université de Montréal. The same day, about 3,000 students gather in a Montreal arena to show their support for the FLQ. The rally frightens many Canadians who view it as a possible prelude to outright insurrection in Quebec.

• October 16: Premier Bourassa formally requests that the Government of Canada grant the Government of Quebec "emergency powers" that allow them to "apprehend and keep in custody" individuals. This resulted in the implementation of the War Measures Act, which allowed the suspension of habeas corpus, giving wide-reaching powers of arrest to police. The City of Montreal had already made such a request the day before. These measures came into effect at 4:00 a.m. Prime Minister Trudeau made a broadcast announcing the imposition of the War Measures Act.

• October 17: Montreal, Quebec: The Chenier cell of the FLQ announces that hostage Pierre Laporte has been executed. He is strangled to death and his body is dumped in the trunk of a car and abandoned in the bush near Saint-Hubert Airport, a few miles from Montreal. A communiqué to police advising that Pierre Laporte had been executed referred to him derisively as the "Minister of unemployment and assimilation". In a communiqué issued by the "Liberation cell" holding James Cross, his kidnappers declared that they were suspending indefinitely the death sentence against James Cross, that they would not release him until their demands were met, and that he would be executed if the "fascist police" discovered them and tried to intervene.

• October 30: Columnist, politician, and future Premier of Quebec, René Lévesque, writes in the Journal de Montréal newspaper that "The Army occupies Quebec. It is unpleasant but undoubtedly necessary in times of crisis."

• November 6: Police raid the hiding place of the FLQ's Chenier cell. Although three members escaped the raid, Bernard Lortie was arrested and charged with the kidnapping and murder of Pierre Laporte.

• December 3: Montreal, Quebec: After being held hostage for 60 days, kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross is released by the FLQ Liberation cell terrorists after negotiations with police. Simultaneously, the five known terrorist members, Marc Carbonneau, Yves Langlois, Jacques Lanctôt, Jacques Cossette-Trudel and his wife, Louise Lanctôt, are granted their request for safe passage to Cuba by the Government of Canada after approval by Fidel Castro. They are flown to Cuba by a Canadian Forces aircraft. One of them is the same Jacques Lanctôt who earlier that year had been arrested and then released on bail for the attempted kidnapping of the Israeli consul.

• December 27: Saint-Luc, Quebec: The three remaining members of the Chenier Cell still at large, Paul Rose, Jacques Rose, and Francis Simard, are arrested after being found hiding in a 6 m tunnel in the rural farming community. They would be charged with the kidnapping and murder of Pierre Laporte.

In the middle of the crisis, adding to the fear were the comments of the powerful and radical labour leader and vociferous FLQ supporter, Michel Chartrand, who said, "We are going to win because there are more boys ready to shoot members of Parliament than there are policemen."

Canadian soldiers in the streets during the FLQ crisis.  Frank Prazak photo via Library and Archives Canada

War Measures Act and Military Involvement

When asked by a reporter how far he was willing to go to stop the FLQ, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau famously replied "Just watch me". Three days later he invoked the War Measures Act at the request of the Premier of Quebec, Robert Bourassa, and the Mayor of Montreal, Jean Drapeau. At the time, opinion polls in Quebec and the rest of Canada showed overwhelming support for this move. Politician and future Parti Québécois Premier René Levesque wrote that he agreed it was necessary under the circumstances.

Simultaneously, under provisions quite separate from the War Measures Act and much more commonly used, the Solicitor-General of Quebec requisitioned the deployment of the military from the Chief of the Defence Staff in accordance with the National Defence Act. Troops from Quebec bases and elsewhere in the country were dispatched, under the direction of the Sûreté du Québec (Quebec's provincial police force), to guard vulnerable points as well as prominent individuals at risk. This freed the police to pursue more proactive tasks in dealing with the crisis.

Outside Quebec, mainly in the Ottawa area, the federal government deployed troops under its own authority to guard federal offices and employees. The combination of the increased powers of arrest granted by the War Measures Act and the military deployment requisitioned and controlled by the government of Quebec, gave every appearance that martial law had been imposed. In actual fact, the military remained in a support role to the civil authorities and never had a judicial role.

Once the War Measures Act was in place, arrangements were made for all detainees to see legal counsel. In addition, the Quebec Ombudsman, Louis Marceau, was instructed to hear complaints of detainees and the Quebec government agreed to pay damages to any person unjustly arrested. On 3 February 1971, Minister of Justice John Turner reported that 497 persons had been arrested under the War Measures Act, of whom 435 had already been released. The other 62 were charged, of which 32 were crimes of such seriousness that a Quebec Superior Court judge refused them bail.

During the October Crisis, the Canadian troops effectively fulfilled the modern role of peacekeepers - in this case, in their own country. There were no incidents whatsoever as the result of their presence: the soldiers acted with circumspection, calm and dignity during their whole period of duty, which ran from 15 October 1970 to 4 January 1971. (Reporter) Claude Ryan summed it up thus: "The presence of the armed forces in Quebec is all the more acceptable in that, on the whole, the military who for many weeks assured the protection of political leaders, buildings, and public places, have generally conducted themselves in an honorable manner. In addition to our personal observations, we have received the views on this subject from a number of other witnesses. All agree that the soldiers who are presently in service in Quebec have exhibited an exemplary conduct, discipline, and genuine cordiality which has won them the sympathy of the citizenry." In fact, the population at large welcomed the army warmly when it arrived and commended it when it left.

Claude Ryan noted another remarkable fact about the Canadian army's presence - no public declarations were made by the army officers or troops: "We equally remarked that during this long crisis, no military leader has let slip the slightest statement which might have aggravated matters. Those in charge of the armed forces have, on the contrary, observed an exemplary discretion, such that we have almost forgotten that they must be somewhere on hand. We take, from this extraordinary sojourn of soldiers amongst us, that a delicate and explosive task has been accomplished with tact and efficiency and that their leaders were surely not strangers to this performance.²

Aftermath

Pierre Laporte was eventually found to have been killed by his captors while James Cross was freed after 60 days as a result of negotiations with the kidnappers who requested exile to Cuba rather than face trial in Quebec. The cell members responsible for Laporte's death were arrested and charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder.

The October Crisis proved to be the most serious terrorist attack to occur on Canadian soil in the 20th Century, and the response by the federal and provincial governments created ongoing debate. At the time, opinion polls showed overwhelming support in Quebec for the War Measures Act; some critics believed that Prime Minister Trudeau was being excessive in using the War Measures Act to suspend civil liberties and were wary of the precedent set.

The true size of the FLQ organization is not known. However, in its Manifesto, the FLQ terrorists stated:

In the coming year Bourassa (Premier Robert Bourassa) will have to face reality; 100,000 revolutionary workers, armed and organized.

Given that declaration, in addition to the seven years of bombings and dissemination of communiqués presenting an image of a powerful organization spread secretly throughout all sectors of society, the authorities took significant action.

Some supporters of the government's strong measures continue to maintain that there have been no equivalent terrorist incidents since 1970 because of the vigorous response by all levels of government. On the other hand, the more general consensus is that terrorism as a means to political independence was found by Quebecers to be both repugnant and unnecessary.

The events of October 1970 saw a loss of support for the violent wing of the Quebec separatist movement that had gained support over nearly ten years, and increased support for political means of attaining independence, including support for the separatist Parti Québécois, which went on to take power at the provincial level in 1976. It can be argued that Brian Mulroney's 1987 attempt to quell separatist aspirations through constitutional reform was a by-product of the October Crisis. After the defeat of the Meech Lake Accord, which sought to amend the Constitution of Canada to resolve the passage by a previous government of the Constitution Act 1982 without Quebec's ratification, a pro-independence political party, the Bloc Québécois was also created at the federal level.

Notes

1. http://www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/chronos/october.htm

2. Tetley, William The October Crisis, 1970: An Insider's View (McGill-Queen's University Press 2007) ISBN-13 9780773531185