Front de libération du Québec


The Front de libération du Québec was a Quebec separatist terrorist group which aimed to establish an independent and socialist Quebec. Founded sometime in the early 1960s, the FLQ conducted a number of attacks between 1963 and 1970, which totalled over 160 violent incidents and killed eight people and injured many more. These attacks culminated with the Montreal Stock Exchange bombing in 1969 and the October Crisis in 1970, the latter beginning with the kidnapping of British Trade Commissioner James Cross. In the subsequent negotiations, Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte was kidnapped and murdered by a cell of the FLQ. Public outcry and a federal crackdown subsequently ended the crisis and resulted in a drastic loss of support for the FLQ, with a small number of FLQ members being granted refuge in Cuba.
FLQ members practised propaganda of the deed and issued declarations that called for a socialist insurrection against oppressors identified with Anglo-Saxon imperialism, the overthrow of the Quebec government, the independence of Quebec from Canada and the establishment of a French-speaking "workers' society" in Quebec. Up to 1970, it gained the support of many left-leaning students, teachers and academics, who engaged in public strikes in solidarity with the FLQ during the October Crisis. After the kidnapping of Cross, nearly 1,000 students at Université de Montréal signed a petition supporting the FLQ manifesto. This public support largely ended after the group announced they had killed Laporte, in a public communiqué that ended with an insult to the victim. The KGB, which had established contact with the FLQ before 1970, later forged documents to portray them as a CIA false flag operation, a story that gained limited traction among academic sources before declassified Soviet archives revealed the ruse. By the early 1980s, most of the imprisoned FLQ members had been paroled or released.

History

Members and sympathizers of the group were called "Felquistes", a word coined from the French pronunciation of the letters FLQ. Some of the members were organized and trained by Georges Schoeters, a Belgian revolutionary. FLQ members Normand Roy and Michel Lambert received guerrilla training from the Palestine Liberation Organization in Jordan. The FLQ was a loose association operating as a clandestine cell system. Various cells emerged over time: the Viger Cell founded by Robert Comeau, history professor at the i=no; the Dieppe Cell; the Louis Riel Cell; the Nelson Cell; the Saint-Denis Cell; the Liberation Cell; and the Chénier Cell. The last two of these cells were involved in what became known as the October Crisis. From 1963 to 1970, the FLQ committed over 200 violent actions, including bombings, bank hold-ups, kidnappings, at least three killings by FLQ bombs and two killings by gunfire. In 1966, Revolutionary Strategy and the Role of the Avant-Garde was prepared by the FLQ, outlining their long-term strategy of successive waves of robberies, violence, bombings, and kidnappings, culminating in revolution. The history of the FLQ is sometimes described as a series of "waves". The ideology was based on an extreme form of Quebec nationalism that denounced Anglo exploitation and control of Quebec, combined with Marxist–Leninist ideas and arguments.

First wave

The first formation of the FLQ was composed of members of the Rassemblement pour l'Indépendance Nationale, some of whom wished for faster action. This group formed the i=no, or Resistance Network. This group eventually broke up, forming the FLQ. The group was recruited among various sources, eventually recruiting one Mario Bachand. The FLQ commenced their attacks on 7 March 1963. Some of their more notable crimes include bombing a railway.

7 March 1963

  • Three Molotov cocktails planted at the armouries of the Victoria Rifles of Canada, the Royal Montreal Regiment, and the 4th Battalion Royal 22 Régiment. Little to no damage done.
  • Leaflets with the aims of the FLQ were distributed widely throughout the city of Montreal. On the documents can be found a crude crayon coloured drawing of the resistance flag along with the following inscription: "Suicide-commandos of the Quebec Liberation Front have as their mission to completely destroy, by systematic sabotage:
  1. "All the symbols and colonial institutions, in particular the and the armed forces.
  2. "All the information media of the colonial language which holds us in contempt.
  3. "All enterprises and commercial establishments which practise discrimination against Quebec people, which do not use French as their primary language, which have signs in the colonial language.
  4. "All the factories that discriminate against French-speaking workers"

    1 April 1963

  • A saboteur with a bomb caused minor damage to a section of rail between Montreal and Quebec City in the town of Lemieux. It appeared to go unnoticed as traffic continued on the rail line. An engineer eventually called in a "rough spot" that needed repair and a maintenance crew was immediately dispatched for repairs in time for Prime Minister Diefenbaker to travel through shortly after.
  • A bomb is detonated in the ventilation system of the Department of National Revenue. No one is injured.
  • The words Québec libre and the letters "FLQ" are written on the official residence of the Quebec lieutenant governor, Paul Comtois.

    12 April 1963

  • In response to increased FLQ activities, 50 police officers conducted predawn raids on the homes of 15 suspected members of the FLQ.

    20 April 1963

  • Shortly before 1:00am, an individual claiming to be a member of the FLQ called the Canadian Press and announced "Operation Jean Lesage has started." Soon thereafter a stick of dynamite exploded outside the RCMP headquarters. No one was injured.
  • At approximately 11:45pm a bomb detonated at the Canadian Army Recruiting Centre in Montreal. A 65-year-old furnaceman, William Vincent O'Neill, was killed instantly.

    17 May 1963

  • In the early morning 15 mailboxes in Westmount were planted with time bombs. Five exploded at 3am. Nine of the remaining ten bombs were successfully dismantled. One bomb, planted by Jean-Denis Lamoureux, critically wounded a Canadian military bomb disposal expert, Walter Leja.

    20 May 1963

  • One car was completely destroyed and three others severely damaged when a car bomb detonated outside the Corps of Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers building in what was the largest explosion at the hands of the FLQ. No one was injured.
  • Multiple harmless bomb threats are received throughout the province of Quebec. Only one threat resulted in finding sticks of dynamite.
By 1 June 1963, eight members of the FLQ were arrested in a surprise raid. In 1963, Gabriel Hudon and Raymond Villeneuve were sentenced to 12 years in prison after their bomb killed William V. O'Neill, a furnaceman at Montreal's Canadian Army Recruiting Centre. Their targets also included English-owned businesses, banks, McGill University, Loyola College and the Black Watch Armoury.

Second wave

A group of six individuals, two of whom were brothers of FLQ members arrested in 1963, commenced a series of crimes in Quebec over a period between 26 September 1963 and 9 April 1964. They called themselves the Quebec Liberation Army, and stole approximately in goods and money. Most of these individuals were also released by 1967.

Third wave

A larger group of revolutionaries became known as the "Revolutionary Army of Quebec". This group attempted to focus on training, particularly in St. Boniface. A botched gun warehouse robbery on 29 August 1964 resulted in two deaths, the company's vice-president Leslie McWilliams and gunsmith Alfred Pinisch. Other employees were lined up to be shot when Pinisch burst upon the scene and was killed. Cyr Delisle, Gilles Brunet, Marcel Tardif, , and Edmond Guenette, the five members arrested in connection with the deaths of MacWilliams and Pinisch, workers at the store, were sentenced to life in prison. Other members of the FLQ were arrested as well.

Fourth wave

Charles Gagnon and Pierre Vallières combined their "Popular Liberation Movement" with the FLQ in July 1965. This also combined several other pro-sovereignty groups. This may have led to a more socialist FLQ attitude. This new group robbed a New Democratic Party office and a radio station for supplies, many of which were used to write La Cognée, the revolutionary paper published by the FLQ during the many years of activity. It translates to "The Hit ". The 4th wave saw the increasing use of explosives, the production styles of which were sometimes detailed in La Cognée. A 15-year-old FLQ member, Jean Corbo, was killed by his own explosive, and a 64-year-old female office worker died during the FLQ bombing of the shoe factory Lagrenade.
By August 1966, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had arrested many FLQ members. Gagnon and Vallières had fled to the United States, where they protested in front of the Headquarters of the United Nations and were later arrested. It was during his incarceration that Vallières wrote his book White Niggers of America, which compared the Québécois liberation struggle to that of Black people in the United States. In September 1967, the pair were extradited to Canada.
In 1968, after various riots within Quebec and in Europe, a new group of FLQ was formed. Within a year, this group of Felquistes had exploded 52 bombs. Rather than La Cognée, they wrote La Victoire, or Victory. The various members of the group were arrested by 2 May 1969.

Attacks

On 13 February 1969, the FLQ set off a powerful bomb that ripped through the Montreal Stock Exchange causing massive destruction and seriously injuring 27 people. After more bombings, on 28 September 1969 they bombed the home of Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau. After the bombing, police concluded that the bomb was placed in the toilet so inspectors could not find it.
The year 1969 also saw many riots, including one against McGill University. The RCMP had intercepted intelligence relating to the planned riots, and prevented excessive damage. This failed riot led to Mario Bachand leaving Canada, and another group of FLQ forming, which would become responsible for the October Crisis. This group, formed of Paul Rose, Jacques Rose, Francis Simard, and Nigel Hamer became known as the "South Shore Gang".
On 5 May 1969, FLQ members Jean-Pierre Charette and Alain Alard, who had previously fled from Canada to the U.S., hijacked a National Airlines Boeing 727 in New York, and diverted it to Cuba.
In 1969 the FLQ gave support to the "Taxi Liberation Front", which was opposing the Anglo-owned Murray-Hill taxi company. The TLF was created by the "Popular Liberation Front", which was founded by Jacques Lanctôt and Marc Carbonneau. Jacques Lanctôt is credited with writing the FLQ Manifesto prior to the October Crisis.
The South Shore Gang bought a house, which they named "The Little Free Quebec", and it quickly became a den of the FLQ. Jacques Lanctôt was charged in connection with a failed FLQ kidnapping attempt of an Israeli diplomat, and in 1970, while a member of the FLQ, likely took refuge at "The Little Free Quebec". These new FLQ members bought two other houses, prepared their plans, and stocked sufficient equipment for their upcoming actions.
The group was divided over what plans should be taken, but were reunited during the crisis itself.