Editing October Crisis (section)

==Background==
From 1963 to 1970, the [[Quebec nationalism|Quebec nationalist]] group [[Front de libération du Québec]] detonated over 200 bombs.<ref>{{cite web |title=Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/front-de-liberation-du-quebec |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia}}</ref> While mailboxes, particularly in the affluent and predominantly Anglophone city of [[Westmount]], were common targets, the [[Montreal Stock Exchange bombing|largest single bombing]] occurred at the [[Montreal Stock Exchange]] on February 13, 1969, which caused extensive damage and injured 27 people. Other targets included [[Montreal City Hall]], [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]], the [[Eaton's|T. Eaton Company]] department store,<ref>{{cite news |title=Jan. 1, 1969: When FLQ bombs rang in the new year for Montrealers |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/jan-1-1969-when-flq-bombs-rang-in-the-new-year-for-montrealers/article33462689/ |last=Ha |first=Tu Thanh |work=[[The Globe and Mail]] |date=December 30, 2016 |access-date=October 12, 2021}}/</ref> armed forces recruiting offices, railway tracks, statues,<ref>{{cite news |last=Peritz |first=Ingrid |date=May 21, 2017 |title=A headless statue of Queen Victoria, the FLQ and Quebec's fractious relationship with the monarchy |language=en-CA |work=The Globe and Mail |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/a-headless-statue-of-queen-victoria-the-flq-and-quebecs-fractious-relationship-with-the-monarchy/article35074360/ |access-date=March 28, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Wolfe monument on Plains a rare reminder of FLQ spree of terror |url=https://qcna.qc.ca/news/wolfe-monument-on-plains-a-rare-reminder-of-flq-spree-of-terror |access-date=March 28, 2022 |website=QCNA EN}}</ref> and army installations. In a strategic move, FLQ members stole several tons of [[dynamite]] from military and industrial sites. Financed by [[bank robbery|bank robberies]], they also threatened, via their official communication organ ''La Cognée'',<ref>{{cite journal |last=FLQ |date=1963 |title=La Cognée |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/19977093 |journal=La Cognée |language=fr |issn=0845-3144 |oclc=19977093}}</ref> that more attacks were to come.

On July 24, 1967, the nationalist cause received support from French President [[Charles de Gaulle]] who, standing on a balcony in [[Montreal]], shouted "{{lang|fr|[[Vive le Québec libre]]}}". De Gaulle was promptly rebuked by Canadian Prime Minister [[Lester Pearson]]. In a statement delivered to the French embassy Pearson declared, "The people of Canada are free. Every province in Canada is free. Canadians do not need to be liberated. Indeed, many thousands of Canadians gave their lives in two world wars in the liberation of France and other European countries."<ref>{{cite news |last=Walz |first=Jay |title=Pearson Rebukes De Gaulle on Call for Free Quebec |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1967/07/26/issue.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 26, 1967 |pages=1, 12 |access-date=November 18, 2020}}</ref>

By 1970, 23 members of the FLQ were in prison, including four convicted of [[murder]]. On February 26, 1970, two men in a [[panel truck]], including [[Jacques Lanctôt]], were arrested in Montreal when they were found with a [[sawed-off shotgun]] and a communiqué announcing the kidnapping of the Israeli consul. In June, police raided a home in the small community of [[Prévost, Quebec|Prévost]], located north of Montreal in the Laurentian Mountains, and found firearms, ammunition, {{convert|300|lb|order=flip}} of dynamite, detonators, and the draft of a [[ransom note]] to be used in the kidnapping of the United States consul.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/chronos/october.htm |title=Chronology of the October Crisis, 1970, and its Aftermath – Quebec History |publisher=.marianopolis.edu |access-date=February 19, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070213235102/http://www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/chronos/october.htm |archive-date=February 13, 2007}}</ref>