Editing October Crisis (section)

==Timeline==
{{further|Timeline of the Front de libération du Québec}}
{{More citations needed section|date=October 2020}}
[[File:EC 2012-07-30.b1 IMG 0003-V.2.jpg|thumb|A mailbox in Montreal bearing the graffiti {{lang|fr|FLQ oui}} (FLQ yes) in July 1971. The FLQ conducted several bombings of post boxes which typically bore a decal of the [[Arms of Canada|royal coat of arms of Canada]].]]
* October 5: Montreal, Quebec: Two members of the "[[Liberation Cell]]" of the FLQ kidnap [[United Kingdom|British]] diplomat [[James Cross]] from his home. The kidnappers are disguised as delivery men bringing a package for his recent birthday. Once the maid lets them in, they pull out a rifle and a revolver and kidnap Cross. This is followed by a communiqué to the authorities containing the kidnappers' demands, which included the exchange of Cross for "political prisoners", a number of convicted or detained FLQ members, and the CBC broadcast of the [[FLQ Manifesto]].<ref>{{cite AV media|url=http://archives.cbc.ca/IDCC-1-71-101-613/conflict_war/october_crisis/ |title=FLQ manifesto read on-air|website=archives.cbc.ca |access-date=11 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040407171751/http://archives.cbc.ca/IDCC-1-71-101-613/conflict_war/october_crisis/ |archive-date=7 April 2004 |url-status=dead|date=October 8, 1970 |type=Television broadcast}}</ref> The terms of the ransom note are the same as those found in June for the planned kidnapping of the U.S. consul. At this time, the police do not connect the two.
* October 8: Broadcast of the FLQ Manifesto in all French- and English-speaking media outlets in Quebec.
* October 10: Montreal, Quebec: Members of the [[Chénier Cell]] of the FLQ approach the home of the Quebec Minister of Labour, [[Pierre Laporte]], while he is playing football with his nephew on his front lawn. These members kidnap Laporte.
* October 11: The [[CBC Television|CBC]] broadcasts a letter from captivity<ref>{{cite AV media|url=http://archives.cbc.ca/IDCC-1-71-101-615/conflict_war/october_crisis/ |title=A letter from captivity |website=archives.cbc.ca |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040407173957/http://archives.cbc.ca/IDCC-1-71-101-615/conflict_war/october_crisis/ |archive-date=7 April 2004 |url-status=dead |date=October 11, 1970 |type=Television broadcast}}</ref> from Pierre Laporte to the [[Premier of Quebec]], Robert Bourassa.<ref name="google1">{{cite book |last1=Bothwell |first1=Robert |last2=Drummond |first2=Ian M. |last3=English |first3=John |title=Canada since 1945: power, politics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DMaS5cb7s8QC&q=%22Paul+Sauve+Arena%22+%2BFLQ&pg=PA371 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |date=January 1989 |access-date=February 19, 2011 |isbn=9780802066725 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>
* October 12: General [[Gilles Turcot]] sends troops from the Canadian Forces to guard federal property in the Ottawa region, by request of the federal government.<ref>Appendix D of ''The October Crisis, 1970: An Insider's View'', by Prof. William Tetley.{{cite web |url=https://www.mcgill.ca/maritimelaw/crisis/ |title=October Crisis 1970 |access-date=June 23, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090614020742/http://www.mcgill.ca/maritimelaw/crisis/ |archive-date=June 14, 2009}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=October 2020}} Lawyer [[Robert Lemieux]] is appointed by the FLQ to negotiate the release of James Cross and Pierre Laporte. The Quebec government appoints Robert Demers.<ref>Tetley, William. The October Crisis, 1970 : An Insider View, pg 202. Demers, Robert. "Memories of October 70 (2010)" https://sites.google.com/site/octobercrisis70/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021003113/https://sites.google.com/site/octobercrisis70/ |date=October 21, 2020}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=October 2020}}
* October 13: Prime Minister Trudeau is interviewed by the CBC with respect to the military presence.<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2565499342 |title=1970: Pierre Trudeau says 'Just watch me' during October Crisis|time=6:05|website=archives.cbc.ca|publisher=[[CBC Television]]|access-date=November 22, 2023}}</ref> In a combative interview Trudeau asks the reporter, [[Tim Ralfe]], what he would do in his place. When Ralfe asks Trudeau how far he would go, Trudeau replies, "[[Just watch me]]".
* October 14: Sixteen prominent Quebec personalities, including René Lévesque and [[Claude Ryan]], call for negotiating "exchange of the two hostages for the political prisoners". FLQ's lawyer [[Robert Lemieux]] urges [[Université de Montréal]] (University of Montreal) students to boycott classes in support of FLQ.
* October 15: [[Quebec City]]: The negotiations between the lawyers Lemieux and Demers are put to an end.<ref name="sites.google.com">Demers, Robert. "Memories of October 70 (2010)" https://sites.google.com/site/octobercrisis70/ {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021003113/https://sites.google.com/site/octobercrisis70/ |date=October 21, 2020}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=October 2020}}<ref>{{cite web|title=The October Crisis|url=https://www.cbc.ca/history/EPISCONTENTSE1EP16CH1PA4LE.html |access-date=March 2, 2021 |website=www.cbc.ca |publisher=CBC Television}}</ref> The Government of Quebec formally requests the intervention of the Canadian army in "aid of the civil power" pursuant to the ''National Defence Act''. All three opposition parties, including the [[Parti Québécois]], rise in the National Assembly and agree with the decision. On the same day separatist groups are permitted to speak<ref>{{cite AV media|url=http://archives.cbc.ca/IDCC-1-71-101-617/conflict_war/october_crisis/|title=FLQ rallies students|website=archives.cbc.ca|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040407180317/http://archives.cbc.ca/IDCC-1-71-101-617/conflict_war/october_crisis/|archive-date=7 April 2004 |url-status=dead|date=October 15, 1970|type=Television broadcast}}</ref> at the [[Université de Montréal]]. Robert Lemieux organizes 3,000 students in a rally in [[Paul Sauvé Arena]] to show support for the FLQ; labour leader [[Michel Chartrand]] announces that popular support for FLQ is rising<ref name="google1"/> and states "We are going to win because there are more boys ready to shoot members of [[Parliament of Canada|Parliament]] than there are policemen."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/series/trudeau/jgray2_sep30.html |title=The Globe and Mail: Series – Pierre Elliott Trudeau 1919–2000 |access-date=April 13, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080118071232/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/series/trudeau/jgray2_sep30.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=January 18, 2008}}</ref> The rally frightens many Canadians, who view it as a possible prelude to outright insurrection in Quebec.
* October 16: Premier Bourassa formally requests that the government of Canada grant the government of Quebec "emergency powers" that allow them to "apprehend and keep in custody"<ref>{{cite web|date=April 30, 2006 |title=Letters from the Quebec Authorities requesting the Implementation of the War Measures Act (October 15-16, 1971) - Quebec History|url=http://www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/docs/october/letters.htm|access-date=March 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060430094607/http://www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/docs/october/letters.htm|archive-date=April 30, 2006}}</ref> individuals. This results in the implementation of the ''War Measures Act'', allowing the suspension of ''[[habeas corpus]]'', giving wide-reaching powers of arrest to police. The City of Montreal had already made such a request on the previous day. These measures came into effect at 4:00&nbsp;a.m. Prime Minister Trudeau makes a broadcast announcing the imposition of the ''War Measures Act''.
* October 17: Montreal, Quebec: The Chénier cell of the FLQ announces that hostage Pierre Laporte has been executed. He was strangled and then stuffed in the trunk of a car and abandoned in the bush near [[Montréal/St-Hubert Airport|Saint-Hubert Airport]], a few miles from Montreal. A communique to police advising that Pierre Laporte has been executed refers to him derisively as the "minister of unemployment and assimilation". In another communique issued by the "Liberation cell" holding James Cross, his kidnappers declare that they are suspending indefinitely the death sentence against him, that they will not release him until their demands are met, and that he will be executed if the "fascist police" discover them and attempt to intervene. The demands they make are: {{ordered list | The publication of the FLQ manifesto | The release of 23 "political prisoners" | An airplane to take them to either [[Cuba]] or [[Algeria]] (both countries that they feel a strong connection to because of their struggle against colonialism and imperialism). | The re-hiring of the "gars de Lapalme". | A "voluntary tax" of 500,000 dollars to be loaded aboard the plane prior to departure. | The name of the informer who had sold out the FLQ activists earlier in the year.<ref>FLQ: The Anatomy of an Underground Movement</ref>{{page needed|date=October 2020}}}} Controversially, police reports (which were not released to the public until 2010) state that Pierre Laporte was accidentally killed during a struggle. The FLQ subsequently wanted to use his death to its advantage by convincing the government that they should be taken seriously.{{failed verification|date=February 2019}}<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/Politique/2010/09/23/006-flq-mort-laporte.shtml |title=Révélations sur la mort de Pierre Laporte |work=Radio Canada |access-date=March 18, 2013 |date=September 24, 2010 |language=fr |trans-title=Revelations on the murder of Pierre Laporte}}</ref>
* October 18: While denouncing the acts of "subversion and terrorism – both of which are so tragically contrary to the best interests of our people", columnist, politician, and future Premier of Quebec René Lévesque criticizes the ''War Measures Act'': "Until we receive proof (of the size the revolutionary army) to the contrary, we will believe that such a minute, numerically unimportant fraction is involved, that rushing into the enactment of the ''War Measures Act'' was a panicky and altogether excessive reaction, especially when you think of the inordinate length of time they want to maintain this regime."<ref>{{cite web |title=Statement by René Lévesque on the ''War Measures Act'' – Quebec History |url=http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/docs/october/levesque.htm |publisher=Faculty.marianopolis.edu |date=October 17, 1970 |access-date=February 19, 2011}}</ref>
* November 6: Police raid the hiding place of the FLQ's Chénier cell. Although three members escape the raid, [[Bernard Lortie]] is arrested and charged with the kidnapping and murder of Pierre Laporte.
* December 3: Montreal, Quebec: After being held hostage for 62 days, kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross is released by the FLQ Liberation Cell after negotiations between lawyers Bernard Mergler and Robert Demers.<ref name="sites.google.com"/>{{primary source inline|date=October 2020}}<ref>''Montreal Star'' interview of Bernard Mergler published on December 7, 1970, http://www.tou.tv/tout-le-monde-en-parlait/S05E16 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130308124846/http://www.tou.tv/tout-le-monde-en-parlait/S05E16 |date=March 8, 2013}} [archive]</ref> Simultaneously, the five known kidnappers, [[Marc Carbonneau]], [[Yves Langlois]], [[Jacques Lanctôt]], [[Jacques Cossette-Trudel]] and his wife, [[Louise Lanctôt]], are granted safe passage to [[Cuba]] by the government of Canada after approval by [[Fidel Castro]]. They are flown to Cuba by a [[Canadian Forces]] aircraft. Jacques Lanctôt is the same man who, earlier that year, had been arrested and then released on bail for the attempted kidnapping of the Israeli consul.<ref>{{cite web |title=www.canadiansoldiers.com |url=https://www.canadiansoldiers.com/history/domesticmissions/flqcrisis.htm |access-date=December 14, 2023 |website=www.canadiansoldiers.com}}</ref>
* December 23: Prime Minister [[Pierre Trudeau]] announces that all troops stationed in Quebec will be withdrawn by January 5, 1971.<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 |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>
* December 28: [[Saint-Luc, Quebec]]: The three members of the Chénier Cell still at large, [[Paul Rose (Quebec)|Paul Rose]], [[Jacques Rose]], and [[Francis Simard]], are arrested after being found hiding in a 6m tunnel in a rural farming community. They would later be charged with the kidnapping and murder of Pierre Laporte.