FLQ and the War Measures Act

1. FLQ and the War Measures Act The Great Darkness 1944-1959 During this period, Quebec’s leader was Maurice Duplessis. He ruled Quebec very tightly using the following ideas. He did not support individual rights, and he was anti-Communist and anti-union. He limited education to the general population and gave control of teaching to the Catholic Church. He used the provincial police to violently stop labour strikes at coal and asbestos mines. He gave money to rural communities for local projects to keep the voters happy. As a result, Quebec fell behind the rest of Canada economically, industrially and socially. This was the Great Darkness.

2. FLQ and the War Measures Act The Quiet Revolution • After Duplessis died, Quebec entered a period during the 1960s called the Quiet Revolution. It was a time of rapid change and the modernization in Quebec. • People began looking away from the church for advice and direction. • Social service such as welfare were established • Francophone-Quebecers became Québécois with a pursuit of political independence • A Ministry of Education was formed to manage education • Worker rights were legalized

3. FLQ and the War Measures Act The Quiet Revolution…continued • Hydro-Quebec was formed to manage electrical production • Quebec took more control of its economy and established its own pension fund (Nationalization) • Many Québécois believe English-Canada do not listen to Quebec’s concerns. The separatist party Parti-Québécois was formed in 1968, and separation from Canada became the focus of political life in Quebec. Canada…with its British model…was seen as a foreign, imperialistic power • In 1968, French nationalist Pierre Vallières writes White Niggers of America. The non-fictional story compares the forcible exploitation of the Québécois to black slaves in southern USA.

4. FLQ and the War Measures Act The Less-than-Quiet Revolution The Quiet Revolution was not always quiet…especially for the hard line Quebec nationalists and separatists. • In 1963, Molotov cocktails and dynamite time bombs exploded in the English areas of Montreal. Wilfred O'Neil, a 65-year-old war veteran one month away from his pension, was killed and explosives expert Walter Leja was maimed for life. • While visiting Montreal and Expo 67 during Canada’s 100 birthday celebration, France’s President Charles de Gaulle proclaimed Vive le Québec libre. • On 13 February 1969, bombs exploded in the Montreal Stock Exchange injuring 27. • A new separatist group formed called the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ).

5. FLQ and the War Measures Act Machine Gun Molly – Monica Proietti • Monica Proietti was a Montreal bank robber and folk hero known as Machine Gun Molly. Her actions and attitude reflected much of Quebec society of the period. • She came from a poor Montreal family, she was disillusioned and, like many Québécois (although Proietti was Italian) she felt rejected by the rich Montreal English. • At 17 years old in 1956, she married, and five year later, she was divorced with two kids. • Leading a desperate, impoverished life in Montreal’s red light district (…her apartment was insulated with cardboard…), Proietti joined many in her family in robbing banks (…her grandmother served time in jail for receiving stolen goods and reportedly ran a school for crime for the neighbourhood children…).

6. FLQ and the War Measures Act Machine Gun Molly…continued • Proietti held up more than 20 banks stealing over $100,000. • Barely over 1.5 m tall and weighing less than 60 kg, she was an improbable crime boss. Yet to many poor people in Montreal, Proietti was a modern day Robin Hood giving money generously to the people in her neighbourhood. • On 19 September 1967, she died in a shoot-out with Montreal police after a wild, guns-blazing, high-speed chase through the streets of the city's north end.

7. FLQ and the War Measures Act The October Crisis • In 1970, Canada and Quebec were rocked by an increased number of acts of domestic terrorism. • Robert Bourassa was now Quebec’s leader while Pierre Elliot Trudeau was Canada’s Prime Minister. • By this point, the FLQ had carried out over 200 violent crimes including several bombings that resulted in the deaths of six people. In addition, 23 members of the FLQ were in jail including four members convicted of murder.

8. FLQ and the War Measures Act The October Crisis…continued • On 5 October 1970, the violence escalated -- the FLQ kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross. • On 8 October 1970, the FLQ Manifesto was broadcast on CBC Radio. The FLQ demands included: • releasing 23 "political prisoners" • providing $500,000 in gold • broadcasting and publishing the FLQ manifesto • publishing the names of police informants in Quebec • providing an aircraft to take the kidnappers to Cuba or Algeria • rehiring of the Lapalme postal truck drivers • stopping all police search activities.

9. FLQ and the War Measures Act The October Crisis…continued • On 10 October 1970, another FLQ cell kidnapped Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte. • Canada began looking like a police state with police and army personnel everywhere. • On Parliament Hill, Prime Minister Trudeau is asked “How far would he go to extend law and order to uphold Canadian society.” Trudeau responds in a now famous 13 October 1970, “Just watch me.”

10. FLQ and the War Measures Act The October Crisis…continued • On 16 October 1970, Trudeau and the Government of Canada invoke the War Measures Act. • The act gives the Quebec police far-reaching powers for police. • As well, the army enters Montreal and Ottawa. Because of the military presence, the event has been described as invoking martial law. • Under the Act, the Government of Quebec can…and does…invoke emergency powers to apprehend and jail anyone. • The War Measures Act had never been used in Canada during peace time. • The same day, about 3,000 students gather in a Montreal arena to show support for the FLQ.

11. FLQ and the War Measures Act The October Crisis…continued • On 17 October 1970, the FLQ announces that hostage Pierre Laporte has been executed. Laporte's body is discovered strangled in the trunk of a car in a parking lot. A communiqué refers to Laporte as the "Minister of unemployment and assimilation". • On the same day and in response to the killing, James Cross’ kidnappers suspend indefinitely the death sentence against him. Rather, Cross will be released when FLQ demands were met OR he would be executed if the "fascist police" discovered them and tried to intervene.

12. FLQ and the War Measures Act The October Crisis…continued • Over the next month, between 450 and 500 people were detained without warrant as sympathizers to the FLQ. The majority of the people were artists, unionists, intellectuals and individuals who supported Quebec nationalism. • Most were subsequently released without charge.

13. FLQ and the War Measures Act The October Crisis…continued • On 6 November 1970, police raid the hiding place of the FLQ cell responsible for killing Laporte. One FLQ member is arrested. • On 3 December 1970…after eight weeks of confinement…British diplomat James Cross is set free by his FLQ abductors. Simultaneously, the five FLQ members holding Cross are granted safe passage to Cuba by the Government of Canada. They are flown to Cuba by a Canadian Forces aircraft. • On 27 December 1970, the three remaining killers are captured and charged. Two kidnappers receive life imprisonment.

14. FLQ and the War Measures Act The October Crisis…continued • At the time, opinion polls in Quebec and the rest of Canada showed overwhelming support for the War Measures Act (i.e., 87% of Canadians supported the Prime Minister). Politician and future Parti Québécois leader René Levesque wrote that he agreed it was necessary under the circumstances. Since then, 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. Some supporters of the government's strong measures 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 unnecessary. Those who desire independence became fully conscious that it can and should be achieved through the democratic process.

15. Another Bust-a-Gut Production