FLQ crisis exhibit 3
In 1970, a group known as the FLQ took Quebec nationalism to a new level. The FLQ had already been involved in several bombings in Quebec, including the Montreal Stock Exchange, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police recruitment office, and army installations. On October 5th the British Trade Commissioner James Cross was kidnapped by the FLQ. The kidnappers told the Canadian government that they would kill Cross unless 23 FLQ prisoners were released . They also wanted people to read what they had to say on national television. "We have had enough of promises of work and prosperity," the manifesto read. "When in fact we will always be the diligent servants and bootlickers of the big shots… we will be slaves until Quebecers, all of us, have used every means, including dynamite and guns, to drive out these big bosses of the economy and of politics, who will stoop to any action, however base, the better to screw us ..." Five days later the FLQ struck again by kidnapping Pierre Laporte, the Quebec Minister of Labour. A communique to police advising that Pierre Laporte has been executed refers to him as the "minister of unemployment and assimilation".
On October 15th, more than 3000 people gathered to show support for the FLQ’s ideas. "What else can I do?" Bourassa reportedly told a colleague. "I personally know a great number of the people who will be arrested ... I know that my political career is over. The economic recovery, the foreign investment, the 100,000 new jobs, all that has just gone up in smoke." On the 16th of October, due to one of Trudeau’s acts, police had arrested 405 people including a Quebec singer, Pauline Julien. "They didn't ask us anything," Julien remembered. "I refused to stay in the living-room during their search. I told them: You are in my house, I'm going with you everywhere. They didn't behave that badly, they weren't as brutal as I have heard they were elsewhere." Some arrested were only behind bars for 21 days, but most were released within a couple of hours. The FLQ did not stand for this, and on the night of October 17th, police found Pierre Laporte dead, in the trunk of the FLQ leader's car. This action marked the beginning of the end of the FLQ. James Cross was released December 3, 1970. The kidnappers were caught within the next couple of months, but then later released.
Letter from Minister Pierre Laporte to Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa
Letter of Pierre Laporte to Robert Bourassa
Letter sent on October 11, 1970
My dear Robert,
I feel like I am writing the most important letter I have ever written.
For the time being, I am in perfect health, and I am treated well, even courteously.
In short, the power to decide over my life is in your hands. If there was only that involved, and the sacrifice of my life would bring good results, one could accept it ...
You know how my personal situation deserves to draw attention. I had two brothers, both are now
dead. I remain alone as the head of a large family that comprises my mother, my sisters, my own wife
and my children, and the children of Rolland of whom I am the guardian. My departure would create
for them irreparable grief, and you know the ties that bind the members of my family ...
You have the power of life and death over me, I depend on you and I thank you for it.
Best regards,
Pierre Laporte
Tuesday October 5, 2010
Quiet Revolution not so 'quiet' anymore...
Deborah Sonego - Kanata, ON
I was an anglophone (despite having a very pure laine last name - Boivin) and 17-year-old living in the very west island community of Lachine, a suburb of Montreal during the FLQ crisis. I had graduated from John Grant High School and was attending a secretarial school in downtown Montreal.
Since 1967, Montreal was becoming a less welcoming place for the Anglophones. The summer of 1968 saw a French Canadian family moving into our close knit cul de sac street. They were truly the first ones really as the Poiriers who lived up the street, spoke English and half their children were attending the English language schools. One of their sons was my off and on again boyfriend. We didn't know any other French Canadians - we certainly were never exposed to any militant ones, even my French teachers were Anglophones. The bombs and the FLQ seemed to be happening in another part of my world. The west end of Montreal at that time was a very English speaking community. In fact Montreal was the largest English speaking city in Canada.
Outside of the Poiriers, the only other people on my street who could speak French were the Daleys who were originally British. In the neighbourliness of the times, several of the women tried to welcome them into the community by bringing them over some food; the Mom refused to allow them into the house and the children were told not to play with any of the English kids. The two solitudes had arrived in our street. She did talk to the Daleys because they spoke French and were not really Canadian. Everyone was shocked.
Bombs going off were becoming more commonplace and my father's employer was indicating that they were going to close down because of the violence. Even the Sir George William University student riots in 1969 added to the tension. We were hearing more and more that Anglophones should leave Quebec. That summer my mother narrowly escaped a bombing downtown. A bomb went off where she normally waited for my Dad to pick her up but that day had decided to have him pick her up elsewhere. At the time I did not know that my parents had decided to leave.
I remember how terribly silent my little street was over the kidnappings. There was a feeling of isolation from the rest of Canada, a feeling that outside of our family - who were urging us to get out - nobody cared. Every one of my friends' families were talking about leaving. There was so much tension. Messages aired by the FLQ were hateful. At my father's workplace there were many French Canadians who were now not speaking to my father. It was a grim time. I can only tell you that when Trudeau announced the War Measures Act, there was only relief in our household as no one seemed to know what the FLQ would do next. Would the violence escalate? Then one day, as my entire family with 2 sisters, 15 and 11, were driving to Fairview Shopping Mall, we saw the tanks on the train coming into Montreal. We passed many trucks carrying the military into Montreal that day. An absolute silence descended and we returned home to put on the television. My parents had been very worried about me riding the bus downtown to attend classes during this time but were feeling more safe knowing that the military was to brought in to guard each government building and banks. But it didn't seem like Canada - it seemed so despicable to have our country failing to prevent the kidnapping of a foreign diplomat - especially when threats had been received. When LaPorte was found dead, we all were horrified.
When it finally ended and the terrorists were sent to Cuba, we were glad to hear that they were gone from the country. But the Quiet Revolution was not so quiet anymore. Everyone on our street who could find employment elsewhere in Canada was planning to leave. Even the Poiriers left to Florida! We moved that spring, my father selling the house for less than what he paid for it and buying a house in a small town in southern Ontario for more. He has just recently sold that house to enter a retirement home. Given that he sold for $142,000 and his old house in Montreal would have sold for about $300,000 - it turned out to be a costly move but my family had very little choice but to move. The writing was on the wall and my father was the only wage earner in the household - an anglophone male in his late 40's. His employer offered him a job at a lower rate of pay and responsibility in Ontario - it was a lifeline.
Only a handful of my high school friends remained in Montreal and I lost touch with most of them. My very old high school is now shut down and slated for demolition to make way for condos. It was a huge diaspora which we never seem to talk about in Canada. The move was very difficult for me and my sisters. We had been in Montreal since 1960, having moved there from Northern Ontario. We did not leave out of any sense of choice, but because we had to. Since I now live in Ottawa, I have visited Montreal on a number of occasions and when I do, I drive by my old house. I am not an especially nostalgic or emotional person and am always taken back at how much sadness I feel when I see that house and how much I have to visit it each time I am there. That feeling that nobody in Canada cared about us that I had at the time comes back each time I see it.
I listened to the interview this morning with James Cross. Thank you for running it. They were terrorists plain and simple. They hurt many people - the pain of Mr. Cross and his family , our collective pain, never seems to be recognized. It almost seems surreal that it happened in my country - to Canadians.
One reporter from CBC spoke to Trudeau
Reporter: "Sir what is it with all these men with guns around here?"
Trudeau: " There's a lot of bleeding hearts around who don't like to see people with helmets and guns. All I can say is 'go ahead and bleed' but it's more important to keep law and order in this society than to be worried about weak-kneed people who don't like the looks of..."
Reporter: "At what cost? How far would you go? To what extent?"
Trudeau: "Well, just watch me."
Letter from Minister Pierre Laporte to Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa
Letter of Pierre Laporte to Robert Bourassa
Letter sent on October 11, 1970
My dear Robert,
I feel like I am writing the most important letter I have ever written.
For the time being, I am in perfect health, and I am treated well, even courteously.
In short, the power to decide over my life is in your hands. If there was only that involved, and the sacrifice of my life would bring good results, one could accept it ...
You know how my personal situation deserves to draw attention. I had two brothers, both are now
dead. I remain alone as the head of a large family that comprises my mother, my sisters, my own wife
and my children, and the children of Rolland of whom I am the guardian. My departure would create
for them irreparable grief, and you know the ties that bind the members of my family ...
You have the power of life and death over me, I depend on you and I thank you for it.
Best regards,
Pierre Laporte
Tuesday October 5, 2010
Quiet Revolution not so 'quiet' anymore...
Deborah Sonego - Kanata, ON
I was an anglophone (despite having a very pure laine last name - Boivin) and 17-year-old living in the very west island community of Lachine, a suburb of Montreal during the FLQ crisis. I had graduated from John Grant High School and was attending a secretarial school in downtown Montreal.
Since 1967, Montreal was becoming a less welcoming place for the Anglophones. The summer of 1968 saw a French Canadian family moving into our close knit cul de sac street. They were truly the first ones really as the Poiriers who lived up the street, spoke English and half their children were attending the English language schools. One of their sons was my off and on again boyfriend. We didn't know any other French Canadians - we certainly were never exposed to any militant ones, even my French teachers were Anglophones. The bombs and the FLQ seemed to be happening in another part of my world. The west end of Montreal at that time was a very English speaking community. In fact Montreal was the largest English speaking city in Canada.
Outside of the Poiriers, the only other people on my street who could speak French were the Daleys who were originally British. In the neighbourliness of the times, several of the women tried to welcome them into the community by bringing them over some food; the Mom refused to allow them into the house and the children were told not to play with any of the English kids. The two solitudes had arrived in our street. She did talk to the Daleys because they spoke French and were not really Canadian. Everyone was shocked.
Bombs going off were becoming more commonplace and my father's employer was indicating that they were going to close down because of the violence. Even the Sir George William University student riots in 1969 added to the tension. We were hearing more and more that Anglophones should leave Quebec. That summer my mother narrowly escaped a bombing downtown. A bomb went off where she normally waited for my Dad to pick her up but that day had decided to have him pick her up elsewhere. At the time I did not know that my parents had decided to leave.
I remember how terribly silent my little street was over the kidnappings. There was a feeling of isolation from the rest of Canada, a feeling that outside of our family - who were urging us to get out - nobody cared. Every one of my friends' families were talking about leaving. There was so much tension. Messages aired by the FLQ were hateful. At my father's workplace there were many French Canadians who were now not speaking to my father. It was a grim time. I can only tell you that when Trudeau announced the War Measures Act, there was only relief in our household as no one seemed to know what the FLQ would do next. Would the violence escalate? Then one day, as my entire family with 2 sisters, 15 and 11, were driving to Fairview Shopping Mall, we saw the tanks on the train coming into Montreal. We passed many trucks carrying the military into Montreal that day. An absolute silence descended and we returned home to put on the television. My parents had been very worried about me riding the bus downtown to attend classes during this time but were feeling more safe knowing that the military was to brought in to guard each government building and banks. But it didn't seem like Canada - it seemed so despicable to have our country failing to prevent the kidnapping of a foreign diplomat - especially when threats had been received. When LaPorte was found dead, we all were horrified.
When it finally ended and the terrorists were sent to Cuba, we were glad to hear that they were gone from the country. But the Quiet Revolution was not so quiet anymore. Everyone on our street who could find employment elsewhere in Canada was planning to leave. Even the Poiriers left to Florida! We moved that spring, my father selling the house for less than what he paid for it and buying a house in a small town in southern Ontario for more. He has just recently sold that house to enter a retirement home. Given that he sold for $142,000 and his old house in Montreal would have sold for about $300,000 - it turned out to be a costly move but my family had very little choice but to move. The writing was on the wall and my father was the only wage earner in the household - an anglophone male in his late 40's. His employer offered him a job at a lower rate of pay and responsibility in Ontario - it was a lifeline.
Only a handful of my high school friends remained in Montreal and I lost touch with most of them. My very old high school is now shut down and slated for demolition to make way for condos. It was a huge diaspora which we never seem to talk about in Canada. The move was very difficult for me and my sisters. We had been in Montreal since 1960, having moved there from Northern Ontario. We did not leave out of any sense of choice, but because we had to. Since I now live in Ottawa, I have visited Montreal on a number of occasions and when I do, I drive by my old house. I am not an especially nostalgic or emotional person and am always taken back at how much sadness I feel when I see that house and how much I have to visit it each time I am there. That feeling that nobody in Canada cared about us that I had at the time comes back each time I see it.
I listened to the interview this morning with James Cross. Thank you for running it. They were terrorists plain and simple. They hurt many people - the pain of Mr. Cross and his family , our collective pain, never seems to be recognized. It almost seems surreal that it happened in my country - to Canadians.
One reporter from CBC spoke to Trudeau
Reporter: "Sir what is it with all these men with guns around here?"
Trudeau: " There's a lot of bleeding hearts around who don't like to see people with helmets and guns. All I can say is 'go ahead and bleed' but it's more important to keep law and order in this society than to be worried about weak-kneed people who don't like the looks of..."
Reporter: "At what cost? How far would you go? To what extent?"
Trudeau: "Well, just watch me."