October 15, 1970
Kidnapped Canadian, British officials released by Quebec radicals
Five days after his capture by Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) terrorists, [1] Deputy Premier of Quebec Pierre Laporte has been found alive, along with British diplomat James Cross. Both men were discovered unharmed on the side of the road in a rural area near Montreal, Quebec. Laporte was last seen playing football with his nephew at his home in Montreal, which is where he was kidnapped at gunpoint by the radical separatist organization. Their release comes hours after Prime Minister Walter Gordon helped negotiate a compromise to release 20 imprisoned FLQ members through Robert Lemieux, a lawyer representing the radical group. [2]
While the Prime Minister has a “sympathetic understanding” toward Quebec’s desire for greater sovereignty, [3] he strongly condemned the violent actions of the FLQ. However, Gordon’s handling of the crisis has been criticized by Minister of Justice Pierre Trudeau, who believes that Gordon has not gone far enough in dealing with the crisis. Trudeau believes that invoking the War Measures Act, which would curtail civil liberties and give police far-reaching powers to arrest and detain individuals without bail, would end the FLQ threat once and for all.
Gordon, on the other hand, prefers a less confrontational approach to the crisis, for fear that a heavy-handed approach could escalate into full-blown civil war. “Conceivably, this could lead to civil war with all the horror and the hate that this implies. While all of us might hope that somehow or other such insanity would be avoided, there could be no certainty that it would be,” said Gordon said in a recent speech. “In the light of this uncertainty, we should be concentrating our efforts on seeing that such a catastrophe is avoided… We should be willing to do almost anything to lessen the existing tensions.” [4]
In response to requests made by the Quebec government and the provincial National Assembly, Canadian Forces have been deployed to assist local police in maintaining order and locating those responsible for the kidnappings. Security has been redoubled in the national capital of Ottawa, where tanks now guard the Parliament building. The kidnappings are part of a broader trend towards separatism in the province of Quebec. After the separatist Parti Québécois won 7 seats in the National Assembly earlier this year [5], fears are growing that Quebec will soon opt to declare its independence from Canada, which would break the country in half.