An English Canadian caller to CBC Radio's Double Take thinks francophones are a fairly privileged bunch. In a recent opinion piece in La Presse, Laporte’s niece and nephew criticized what they said was a lingering “adhesion of certain Quebec nationalists to the actions of the felquistes,” calling it “an apology for terror.”. The FLQ's message has made its way across the country. (CP PHOTO/Peter Bregg) 1970. The prime minister explains why he thinks military rule is necessary during the October Crisis. L’enlèvement du ministre Pierre Laporte par le Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) en 1970 a été un tournant décisif dans la crise d’Octobre; sa mort, le paroxysme. Quebec politician drops plan for tribute to late FLQ member. Both he and Comeau say Laporte’s death instantly ended any support for the FLQ, which disbanded almost immediately afterwards, and there have not been any political kidnappings since. Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte has been found strangled. The kidnappers murdered Laporte and negotiations led to Cross's release. “It was the most depressing time in my 20 years in federal politics,” said Lalonde, who in 1970 was an adviser to then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau and later ran for office and served in Trudeau’s cabinet. After the FLQ manifesto was broadcast in October 1970, Québecers felt uplifted. Elections: Liberal Landslides and Tory Tides, Showdown on the Prairies: A History of Saskatchewan Elections, Territorial Battles: Yukon Elections, 1978-2006, The 'Other Revolution': Louis Robichaud's New Brunswick, Equality First: The Royal Commission on the Status of Women, Pot and Politics: Canada and the Marijuana Debate, Sue Rodriguez and the Right-To-Die Debate, Trudeau's Omnibus Bill: Challenging Canadian Taboos, Voting in Canada: How a Privilege Became a Right. Comeau says Laporte, as a progressive Quebec politician and a former journalist, should never have been a target, but at the time he felt it was part of the revolution. October 10: Quebec labour minister Pierre Laporte is kidnapped by members of the FLQ's Chénier cell. 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Quebec’s “national question,” as he calls it, still lingers, despite two referendums in 1980 and 1995. The separatist, socialist Front de libération du Québec had begun setting off bombs in 1963, waging a campaign of terror that by 1970 had resulted in five deaths. Separatist group permitted to speak at the University of Montreal. Pierre Laporte was at home in the Montreal suburb of St. Lambert, throwing a football with his nephew on the front lawn, when a group of men drove up in a … “As of the death of Pierre Laporte, the sympathy was completely dropped. Manifesto read on-air in Montreal on Radio-Canada. • The FLQ Manifesto called for Quebec's non-democratic separation from Canada, brought about by acts of terror. Laporte's death would mark the beginning of the end of the FLQ as sympathy abruptly shifted away from the group. While he’s glad the incident proved that Canadians have little tolerance for political violence, Comeau says some of the issues raised during the crisis remain unresolved. He said he knew only a handful of people in the organization, which he believed to be much bigger than it really was. ”It always happens in a way you can’t imagine, and never at the time you think.”. Comeau does not believe there is any attempt to justify the actions of the perpetrators. He has read the accounts of Laporte’s family and long ago stopped believing in violent acts as a means to an end. In his film, “Les Rose,” he explores his father and uncle’s upbringing in a poor suburb of Montreal, at a time when men were expected to work in “miserable” conditions in factories where they had few educational opportunities and were humiliated for speaking French. In October 1970, two cells of the separatist Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ), a revolutionary organization promoting an independent and socialist Quebec, kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross and Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte. Rose’s son, Felix Rose, released a documentary about the family over the summer, born out of what he said was his attempt to reconcile how the “gentle” father he knew could have been involved in a man’s death. For a brief moment, the FLQ’s strategy seemed to be working. 1970: FLQ kidnaps Pierre Laporte The Story In broad daylight, kidnappers with machine guns pull up to Quebec immigration and labour minister Pierre Laporte's front lawn in Saint-Lambert. While Lalonde describes the October Crisis as a “tragedy for Quebec,” he believes some positive elements came from it. FLQ terrorist convicted of killing cabinet minister Pierre Laporte has died Open this photo in gallery: Former FLQ member Francis Simard gestures during a news conference in … Elections, 1952-2005, N.B. He said his main role in the FLQ was providing material support and, eventually, writing press releases to be distributed to the media. The above picture of the body of Quebec labour minister Pierre Laporte in the trunk of a car was one which shocked the normally-aplomb nation to its core. Suspected FLQ kidnappers are on their way to Cuba. 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Two FLQ members — Paul Rose and Francis Simard — were eventually convicted of murder in Laporte’s death and sentenced to life behind bars, although they were released in 1982. The FLQ members responsible for the kidnapping have never discussed the details, but later admitted and accepted their responsibility for the death of Pierre Laporte. Canada could see ‘grotesque’ spike in coronavirus cases after holidays: expert, ‘Matter of great concern’: Scientists find microplastics in human placenta for 1st time. The crisis deepened five days later when another FLQ cell kidnapped Pierre Laporte, the Quebec labour minister. On October 10, Quebec Justice Minister Jérôme Choquette announced that he refused to accede to the requests of the Liberation cell. While he’s faced criticism for portraying his family in too positive a light, he believes that the lesson of the film is that violence is a symptom of a deeper problem, and also largely avoidable. 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Macdonald: Architect of Modern Canada, The Long Run: The Political Rise of John Turner, Trudeaumania: A Swinger for Prime Minister, Electing Dynasties: Alberta Campaigns Since 1935, Friendly Rivalries: Manitoba Elections Since 1966. Paul Rose, during an interview while serving time in prison for the murder of Pierre Laporte – October crisis / FLQ. L’élément déclencheur de cette crise fut l’enlèvement d’un chargé d’affaires anglais par le FLQ, James Richard Cross et puis l'enlèvement de Pierre Laporte, alors ministre du Travail dans le gouvernement Robert Bourassa, et qui est assassiné [23]. Please read our Commenting Policy first. Members of the Front de Libération du Quebec (FLQ) kidnapped the cabinet member Pierre Laporte and the British Trade Commissioner James Cross. How are other candidates progressing? everything else,” Lise and Claude Laporte wrote in the Oct. 5 article. The National traces the steps leading up to the crisis. October 16 at 4:00 a.m.: The War Measures Act goes into effect. Soldiers carrying machine guns raid homes of suspected FLQ members. Canada's Constitutional Debate: What Makes a Nation? Armés de fusils, les membres du FLQ s’arrêtent au domicile de Pierre Laporte, sur la rive sud de Montréal, et le forcent à monter sur la banquette arrière de leur voiture. Ten years later, it is revealed that the labour minister was one of many diplomats targeted for the abduction. Faced with this refusal, the Chénier cell kidnapped the Minister of “Unemployment and Assimilation of Quebecers”, Pierre Laporte. There was no more sympathy,” he said. “At the moment it happened, we were convinced we were in a bit of a war,” he said. Two FLQ members -- Paul Rose and Francis Simard -- were eventually convicted of murder in Laporte’s death and sentenced to life behind bars, although they were released in 1982.