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October Crisis
The October Crisis was a series of dramatic events triggered by two terrorist kidnappings of government officials by members of the Front de libération du Québec in the province of Quebec, Canada, in October 1970, which ultimately resulted in a brief invocation of the War Measures Act by Prime Minister Pierre E. Trudeau and the deployment of the national army in Quebec and in the national capital Ottawa. The Premier of Quebec, Robert Bourassa, and the Mayor of Montreal, Jean Drapeau, requested that the Government of Canada invoke the War Measures Act. The act provided for far-reaching powers for police. Therefore, Prime Minister Trudeau invoked it in October of 1970 leading to the arrest and detention without bail of several individuals the police thought to be separatists. At that time, the federal government refused to differentiate the members of the FLQ, extremist separatists, and those of the PQ who advocated democratic ways of achieving independence.[1] Following that crisis, under Prime Minister Trudeau's directions, this led to a series of scandals surrounding the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, particularly to the RCMP's illegal break-in to steal the Parti Québécois's member list in its offices in 1973.[2]
BackgroundFrom 1963 to 1970 the Quebec nationalist group Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) had exploded over 95 bombs[3]. While mailboxes, particularly in the affluent and predominantly Anglophone city of Westmount, were common targets, the largest single bombing was of the Montreal Stock Exchange on February 13, 1969, which caused extensive damage and injured 27 people. Other targets included Montreal City Hall, RCMP recruitment offices, railroad tracks, and army installations. FLQ members, in a strategic move, had stolen several tons of dynamite from military and industrial sites. Financed by bank robberies, they threatened the public through their official communication organ, known as La Cognée, that more attacks were to come. By 1970, 23 members of the FLQ were in prison, including four members convicted of murder. On February 26, 1970, two men in a panel truck were arrested in Montreal when they were discovered with a sawed-off shotgun and a communique announcing the kidnapping of the Israeli consul. One of them was a man named Jacques Lanctôt. 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 (140 kg) of dynamite, detonators, and the draft of a ransom note to be used in the kidnapping of the American consul. [4] Timeline
War Measures Act and military involvementWhen a CBC Radio reporter asked how far he was willing to go to stop the FLQ, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau said, "Just watch me". Three days later, on October 16, he invoked the War Measures Act at the request of the Premier of Quebec, Robert Bourassa, and the Mayor of Montreal, Jean Drapeau. The provisions took effect at 4:00 a.m., and soon, hundreds of suspected FLQ members and sympathizers were rousted out of bed and hauled into custody. At the time, opinion polls in Quebec [6] and the rest of Canada showed overwhelming support for the War Measures Act. [7] Since then, however, the government's use of the War Measures Act in peacetime has been a subject of debate in Canada as it gave police sweeping powers of arrest and detention. 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. A significant difference, however, is that the military remained in a support role to the civil authorities (in this case, Quebec authorities) and never had a judicial role. Nevertheless, the sight of tanks on the lawns of the federal parliament was disconcerting to many Canadians. Moreover, police officials sometimes abused their powers and detained without cause prominent artists and intellectuals associated with the sovereignty movement.[8] 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 February 3, 1971, John Turner, Minister of Justice of Canada, 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 had committed crimes of such seriousness that a Quebec Superior Court judge refused them bail. Aftermath
Pierre Trudeau commenting to reports on the release of James Cross Pierre Laporte was eventually found to have been murdered 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 facing trial in Quebec. The cell members responsible for Laporte were arrested and charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder. This incident proved to be the most serious terrorist attack on Canadian soil in modern times, and the response by the federal and provincial governments still sparks controversy. However, at the time, opinion polls showed overwhelming support in Quebec for the War Measures Act. [9] A few critics (most notably Tommy Douglas [10] and some members of the New Democratic Party) believed that Prime Minister Trudeau was being excessive in using the War Measures Act to suspend civil liberties and that the precedent set by this incident was dangerous. Federal Progressive Conservative leader Robert Stanfield supported Trudeau's actions but later regretted doing so. [11] The size of the FLQ organization and the number of sympathizers in the public was 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, along with seven years of bombings and the wording of their communiques throughout that time that strove to present an image of a powerful organization spread secretly throughout all sectors of society, the authorities took significant action. Some supporters of the governments' 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 was found by Quebecers to be both repugnant and not required. Those who desire independence became fully conscious that it can and should be achieved through the democratic process. Those who are against independence, both in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada, received a traumatic shock and have made considerable effort to assuage French Canada's grievances as well as conceding that, if Quebec really wants to be independent, they cannot and will not stop it by force. There is a consensus in Canada amongst all factions that their differences will be resolved democratically. Indeed, the events of October 1970 galvanized a loss of support for the violent wing of the Quebec secessionist movement that had gained support over nearly ten years, and increased support for political means of attaining independence, including support for the secessionist Parti Québécois, which went on to take power at the provincial level in 1976. 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. Cinema and television
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