FLQ A CHC 2D Canadian History Presentation

DE GAULLE Charles de Gaulle came to Montreal for Expo in 1967 and spoke the words “Vive Montréal… Vive le Québec… Vive le Québec Libre!” Ottawa rejected de Gaulle’s visit and he was sent back to France Quebec was outraged this furthered simmering tensions between English- speaking Canada and Quebec that dated back to the Maurice Richard riots

NATIONALISM French Canada began to seek a nationalism of its own this manifested most in the “Quiet Revolution” the Quiet Revolution was a push for greater autonomy from the rest of Canada and the Roman Catholic church which still had tremendous power in the province Quebec established its own pension plan and began to compete against Canada for businesses to locate there

THE PQ not so quiet was the 1969 St. Jean De Baptiste Day parade that broke into riots Montréal, in particular, had a problem because the city was in economic crisis after Expo students were being trained to challenge authority, not become effective workers for the factories — and so there was high unemployment because Quebec’s economy was driven by manufacturing

TROUBLES anger led to the rise of Réné Lévesque and his new political party, The Parti Québécois Robert Bourassa’s Liberals were able to keep power because he was promising jobs however, Quebec factories were not ready for a Trudeau government that was reducing tariffs between provinces or getting into international trade agreements to send Canadian products overseas

TROUBLES anger also led to the foundation of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) the FLQ were a paramilitary group that wanted a separate Quebec and were willing to get it by force the FLQ placed bombs in mail boxes to strike fear in the citizenry of Montreal in 1969, the FLQ bombed the Montreal Stock Exchange the police, at the time, felt the FLQ were “amateurs”

CRISIS on October 10, 1970, the FLQ became far more a threat when they kidnapped the British trade commissioner James Cross the FLQ demanded: 1. the release of 23 “political prisoners” 2. FLQ members out on bail could leave Quebec freely 3. all family members of the political prisoners could leave Quebec whenever they wanted

CRISIS 4. $500,000 in gold 5. broadcast and publication of the FLQ manifesto 6. the identity of a police informant released publicly 7. a helicopter to take the kidnappers to Cuba 8. the rehiring of 450 Lapalme postal workers who were laid off because of their support for the FLQ 9. the police stop looking for FLQ members 10. free access to their lawyers, who could travel back and forth freely

CRISIS on 10 October, the FLQ kidnapped Bourassa’s labour minister Pierre Laporte pro-FLQ rallies are held in Montréal and Quebec City Lévesque and Le Devoir newspaper urge Ottawa to stay out of it Robert Bourassa, however, had already asked Ottawa for help

CRISIS Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau understood that the anger rose out of imperfect legislation Trudeau also saw the FLQ as “revolutionaries” and “fanatics” in an interview, Trudeau said “There is no arguing with a fanatic”

CRISIS on October 16, the Canadian government invoked the War Measures Act to suspend civil rights military officers were deployed in Montréal and Ottawa to protect the government and assist the police a curfew was imposed on both cities being a member of the FLQ was now a federal crime in Montréal, 468 people were seized

CRISIS on October 17, an anonymous phone call came in to police telling them where to find Pierre Laporte the minister is found strangled in the trunk of his car At the time, 88% of Canadians support the use of the War Measures Act — and 86% of Quebecers on October 30, Lévesque writes in the Journal de Montréal that “It is unpleasant but undoubtedly necessary in times of crisis.”

CRISIS a big supporter of the FLQ, Michel Chartand, said “We are going to win because there are more boys ready to shoot members of Parliament than there are policemen.” when asked how far he would take this, Pierre Trudeau famously responded: “Just watch me.”

CONCLUSION on November 6, police raid the hiding place of an FLQ cell and capture the members who would be charged with the kidnapping and murder of Pierre Laporte on December 3, James Cross is released after negotiations with the FLQ five members of the FLQ are granted freedom to go to Cuba — including one who was on bail for the attempted kidnapping of the Israeli consul on December 27, the remaining three members are found hiding in a 6 m tunnel on a farm and charged

AFTERMATH Trudeau’s actions weakened Bourassa’s power in Quebec in 1971, Bourassa weakened his connection to the federal Liberals when he agreed to a deal on modifications to the Constitution… and then, on the plane back, chose to reject the deal because it did not recognize Quebec deserved special status due to its French population in 1974, Bourassa passed the Official Languages Act that required all services to be primarily delivered in French

OTHER GROUPS French Canadians were not the only group to challenge the Trudeau government in the early seventies Canada’s Aboriginals reorganized themselves as the First Nations as the First Nations, land claims were filed against the government on behalf of all the tribes except the Métis, which the government believed did not have the same type of agreement with the Crown as the other tribes