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The '''Front de libération du Québec''' ([[Quebec]] Liberation Front) also known as the '''FLQ''' was a [[nationalist]] and [[Marxist]] revolutionary group seeking independence for the [[Canada|Canadian]] province of [[Québec]]. It claimed responsibility for more than 200 bombings and other terrorist actions, culminating in 1970 with what is known as the [[October Crisis]], in which British Trade Commissioner [[James Cross]] was kidnapped and Quebec Labor Minister [[Pierre Laporte]] was murdered.

The '''Front de libération du Québec''' ([[Quebec]] Liberation Front) also known as the '''FLQ''' was a nationalist and Marxist revolutionary group seeking independence for the [[Canada|Canadian]] province of [[Quebec]]. It claimed responsibility for more than 200 bombings and other terrorist actions, culminating in 1970 with what is known as the [[October Crisis]], in which British Trade Commissioner James Cross was kidnapped and Quebec Labor Minister Pierre Laporte was murdered.

== Aims ==

== Aims ==

== The October Crisis ==  

== The October Crisis ==  

On October 5, 1970, members of the FLQ kidnapped the [[Britain|British]] Trade Commissioner in Canada, James Cross.  Soon after they kidnapped Pierre Laporte, the Vice-Premier of Québec.  Laporte was murdered a week later.  With Cross still under their control, the FLQ sought to leverage public opinion in their favor and organized massive student strikes throughout the province.  They put out a list of demands including the release of various imprisoned Québcéois nationalist figures and a hefty ransom.

On October 5, 1970, members of the FLQ kidnapped the British Trade Commissioner in Canada, James Cross.  Soon after they kidnapped Pierre Laporte, the Vice-Premier of Québec.  Laporte was murdered a week later.  With Cross still under their control, the FLQ sought to leverage public opinion in their favor and organized massive student strikes throughout the province.  They put out a list of demands including the release of various imprisoned Québcéois nationalist figures and a hefty ransom.

The highest levels of the Canadian government quickly became involved, and Prime Minister [[Pierre Trudeau]] invoked the War Measures Act in order to more effectively combat the FLQ menace. This marks the only time the act has been invoked in peacetime, and enabled the arrest of several hundred FLQ sympathizers, most of whom were soon released. The government managed to secure the release of the Cross in exchange for safe passages of several of the terrorists to Cuba.

The highest levels of the Canadian government quickly became involved. On 16 October 1970 the cabinet of Prime Minister [[Pierre Trudeau]] passed the War Measures Act and Regulations (WMA) which immediately sent the Canadian army into Montreal. The army summarily dragged 497 people out of their beds and into jail. Of these, 435 were released within two days, while 62 were charged and 32 held without bail. There was near-unanimous public support for these drastic measures at the time. The government managed to secure the release of the Cross in exchange for safe passages of several of the terrorists to Cuba.

== Aftermath ==

== Aftermath ==

The FLQ was substantially weakened in the wake of the October Crisis.  There was significant public backlash against the violent means used by the group, which had by then been infiltrated to the highest levels by police informants.  The peaceful Parti Québécois rose as the dominant voice of the pro-independence movement in Québec.  Some FLQ members who had fled Canada eventually returned and received generally light prison sentences.  In later years small-scale vandalism has been associated with the FLQ name (for example, spray painting "FLQ" on Anglophone buildings, and vandalizing a statue in Montreal), but the group is now essentially defunct.

The FLQ self destructed in the wake of the October Crisis.  There was significant public backlash against the violent means used by the group, which had by then been infiltrated to the highest levels by police informants.  The peaceful Parti Québécois rose as the dominant voice of the pro-independence movement in Québec.  Some FLQ members who had fled Canada eventually returned and received generally light prison sentences.  In later years small-scale vandalism has been associated with the FLQ name (for example, spray painting "FLQ" on Anglophone buildings, and vandalizing a statue in Montreal), but the group is now essentially defunct.

 

* Tetley, William, ed. ''The October Crisis, 1970: An Insider's View'' (2007) 274pp.

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[[category:Communism]] [[category:Terrorism]]

[[category:Canadian History]] [[category:Terrorism]]

[[category:Quebec]]