October Crisis

The Event Canadian government’s reaction to terrorist kidnappings in Quebec Province

Date Lasted from October 5 to December 4, 1970

Reacting strongly to two kidnappings by violent secessionists, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau imposed the War Measures Act, which temporarily suspended many of the liberties guaranteed by the Canadian Bill of Rights.

From the beginning of the Canadian confederation, many French-speaking citizens in Quebec desired an independent country and resented domination by the English-speaking majority. By 1970, the idea of an independent Quebec was becoming increasingly popular in the province. During the 1960’s, the Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ), a secret organization advocating a combination of secession and radial socialism, was responsible for seven deaths and some two hundred acts of terrorism. Twenty-three members of the FLQ were caught and sent to prison. In February and June, 1970, police in the region of Montreal successfully intercepted FLQ plots to kidnap consuls from Israel and the United States.

On October 5, four armed members of the “liberation cell” of the FLQ kidnapped British trade commissioner James Cross. In return for his freedom, the kidnappers demanded publication of the FLQ’s manifesto, release of all FLQ members from prison, $500,000 in gold, and safe-conduct out of the country. Five days later, four militants of the FLQ’s Chénier cell kidnapped Quebec’s vice premier and minister of labor, Pierre Laporte.

Government Reaction

From the beginning of the crisis, Canadian prime minister Trudeau, in consultation with the recently elected prime minister of Quebec, Robert Bourassa, decided not to make any significant concessions to the kidnappers, especially not to release any FLQ prisoners. When the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), ignoring Trudeau’s personal request, had the FLQ’s manifesto read over the radio and television, it ironically increased the public’s hostility toward the kidnappers.

On October 12, Trudeau ordered the army to protect important people and government buildings in Ottawa. In a famous press conference the next day, he said that he would ignore the “bleeding-hearts” and take any action necessary to combat “a parallel power which defies the elected power.” When asked how far he would go, he answered, “Well, just watch me.” In Montreal, Bourassa and the members of his cabinet stayed in the Queen Elizabeth Hotel under armed guard. On October 15, Bourassa and other provincial leaders formally asked Trudeau to impose martial law under the War Measures Act. Their request warned of an attempt by a minority “to destroy social order through criminal action.”

Early in the morning of October 16, the federal cabinet proclaimed application of the act, outlawing the FLQ and providing the police with special powers of search, arrest, and detention without warrant or probable cause. The police quickly arrested hundreds of communist supporters and radicals suspected of supporting the FLQ. On October 17, the Chénier cell announced that Laporte had been executed, and the next day his body was found in a car trunk in Saint Hubert.

On November 6, as a result of extensive investigations, the police in Montreal arrested one of those responsible for Laporte’s murder. A month later, Francis Simard and two others were arrested on Montreal’s south shore. The four men were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, but they were paroled within twelve years.

On December 3, the police located Cross, who was being held by about ten kidnappers in a northern Montreal apartment. Unable to escape, the kidnappers agreed to release Cross in exchange for safe-conduct to Cuba for themselves and their families. The next day, after they were flown to Cuba, Cross was released. Within fifteen years, almost all FLQ members who had fled the country returned to face justice in Canada, generally receiving sentences of less than two years.

During the October Crisis, a total of 468 persons were arrested under the War Measures Act. Only ten of these suspects were convicted of wrongdoing, while 435 were released without any charges being filed. Many prominent citizens, including newspaper editor Claude Ryan, strongly criticized the emergency measures. Defenders of the policy argued that most of the periods of detention were relatively short, that all suspects were provided with legal counsel, and that innocent persons were later given monetary compensation for their time in jail. In December, a Gallup poll indicated that 87 percent of the Canadian people approved the application of the act.

Impact

In the Province of Quebec, the dramatic events and publicity of the October Crisis galvanized opposition to terrorist violence. Partly as a result of the crisis, the FLQ ceased to exist. In contrast to the many bombings and deaths of the 1960’s, virtually no terrorist acts would occur in Quebec during the next several decades.

Although the majority of Canadians approved of Trudeau’s handling of the crisis, his policies were significantly less popular in Quebec than in the rest of the country. Moderate Quebec nationalists resented the arrests and detentions of their more radical colleagues. Following the crisis, support for Quebec secession appeared to increase rather dramatically, and memories of the October events appeared to help the separatist Parti Québécois take power in the provincial elections of 1976.

The invocation of the War Measures Act continued to be controversial long after the crisis had passed. Most civil libertarians insisted that the policy was unnecessarily oppressive and a dangerous precedent. For other observers, however, the main lesson of the crisis was that the use of emergency powers is sometimes the most effective way to combat terrorism.

Bibliography

Coleman, Ronald. Just Watch Me: Trudeau’s Tragic Legacy. Victoria, B.C.: Trafford, 2003. A critical interpretation of Trudeau’s policies, especially the way in which he dealt with the October Crisis.

Coleman, William. Independence Movement in Quebec, 1945-1980. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984. An excellent historical account of the separatist movement in Quebec.

Fournier, Louis. FLQ: The Anatomy of an Underground Movement. Toronto: NC Press, 1984. A study of the terrorist organization responsible for the crisis of 1970.

Pelletier, Gérard. The October Crisis. Translated by Joyce Marshall. Toronto: McClellan & Stewart, 1971. A standard account by Trudeau’s close friend and cabinet member.

Saywell, John. Quebec Seventy: A Documentary Narrative. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1971. A valuable collection of documents dealing with the October Crisis.

Simard, Francis. Talking It Out: The October Crisis from the Inside. Translated by David Homel. Montreal: Guernica, 1987. The later reflections of a major leader of the Chénier cell that kidnapped and murdered Laporte.

Vallières, Pierre. The Assassination of Pierre Laporte: Behind the October 1970 Scenario. Translated by Ralph Wells. Toronto: J. Lorimer, 1977. An account of the crisis written by a prominent Quebec separatist.