October Crisis 1970

Good afternoon, the topic I have chosen today is the October Crisis of 1970. The October Crisis was a series of dramatic events triggered by two terrorist kidnappings in the province of Quebec, in October 1970, which resulted in a brief invocation of the War Measures Act by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

The October Crisis actually started in 1963 with the formation of a Quebec nationalist group called the Front de libÐ"©ration du QuÐ"©bec or the FLQ as many had known them. The FLQ had carried out many violent crimes and bombings between 1963 and 1969 including that of the Montreal Stock Exchange on February 13, 1969 which injured many people and caused extensive damage. By 1970, 23 members of the FLQ had been arrested, 4 of them being charged with murder but during October of 1970 is when the crisis actually began.

On the fifth of October British Trade Commissioner James Cross was kidnapped by members of the "Liberation Cell" of the FLQ. This was followed by a communiquÐ"© to the authorities of the kidnappers' demands, which included the release of a number of convicted FLQ members and the CBC broadcast of the FLQ Manifesto, if this was done then they would spare the life of James Cross. On October 8th the CBC had broadcasted the FLQ manifesto in both French and English to comply with the demands of terrorist. On the 10th the FLQ had kidnapped the Minister of Labor and Vice-Premier of Quebec, Pierre Laporte, and the next day the CBC had received and aired a letter from captivity from Pierre Laporte to the Premier of Quebec, Robert Bourassa.

These actions began to worry the Canadian government at the time and when Prime Minister Trudeau was asked how far he was willing to go responded "Just watch me!" On October 16th Premiere Bourassa asked the Canadian government to grant the government of Quebec "emergency powers" to apprehend and keep in custody any individuals thought to have any connection with the FLQ. By 4 a.m. the next day Prime Minister Trudeau had made a broadcast announcing the imposition of the War Measures Act which is a Canadian statute allowing the government to assume emergency powers. This has been the only time ever in Canadian history that the War Measures Act had ever been invoked outside of a World War. Trudeau had seen this as the only way to legally arrest everyone that was of concern to the Quebec government.

Following the announcement of the War Measures Act the FLQ had executed Pierre Laporte on October 17th, referring to him as the Minister of unemployment and assimilation in Quebec in a communiquÐ"© to police. Later that day police had received another letter from the captors of