Editing October Crisis (section)

==Aftermath==
{{see also|Royal Commission of Inquiry into Certain Activities of the RCMP}}
Pierre Laporte was eventually found killed by his captors, while James Cross was freed after 59 days as a result of negotiations with the kidnappers who requested exile to Cuba rather than facing trial in Quebec. The cell members responsible for Laporte's death were arrested and charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder after they returned.

The response by the federal and provincial governments to the incident still sparks controversy. This is the only time that the ''War Measures Act'' had been put in place during peacetime in Canada.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/terrorists/flq/11.html |title=Quebec terrorists FLQ kidnapped 2 & began the Oct crisis |access-date=April 13, 2008 |quote=Public opinion polls showed that nearly nine in 10 citizens – both Anglo and French-speaking – supported Trudeau's hard-line tactics against the FLQ. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080131032330/http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/terrorists/flq/11.html |archive-date=January 31, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>  A few critics (most notably Tommy Douglas and some members of the [[New Democratic Party (Canada)|New Democratic Party]])<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/greatest/top_ten/nominee/douglas-tommy-know.html |title=Top Ten Greatest Canadians – Tommy Douglas |access-date=April 13, 2008 |quote=The decision to vote against the motion (which passed with a majority vote) was not viewed favourably; the approval rating for the NDP dropped to seven percent in public opinion polls. Still, Douglas maintained that Trudeau was going too far: "The government, I submit, is using a sledgehammer to crack a peanut." |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080425041156/http://www.cbc.ca/greatest/top_ten/nominee/douglas-tommy-know.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = April 25, 2008}}</ref> believed that Trudeau was excessive in advising the use of the ''War Measures Act'' to suspend [[civil liberties]] and that the precedent set by this incident was dangerous. Federal Progressive Conservative leader [[Robert Stanfield]] initially supported Trudeau's actions but later regretted doing so.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.irpp.org/po/archive/feb04/McQueen.pdf |title=Remembering Robert Stanfield: A Good-Humoured and Gallant Man |access-date=April 13, 2008 |quote=That particular backing [of the ''War Measures Act''] was Stanfield's only regret in a long political life. He later admitted that he wished he had joined his lone dissenting colleague, David MacDonald, who voted against the ''Public Order Temporary Measures Act'' when it came before the House that November. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080414090627/http://www.irpp.org/po/archive/feb04/McQueen.pdf |archive-date=April 14, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1972, [[Michael Forrestall]], the defence critic in the Conservative shadow cabinet, warned when Trudeau stated he would use the ''War Measures Act'' again, "the deliberate use of the military to enforce the will of one group of Canadians over the will of another group of Canadians is detrimental to the credibility of the armed forces."<ref name="milhist"/>{{rp|257}} The size of the FLQ organization and the number of sympathizers in the public was not known. However, in its Manifesto the FLQ stated: "In the coming year (Quebec Premier Robert) Bourassa will have to face reality; 100,000 revolutionary workers, armed and organized."<ref name="Marcel Rioux">{{cite book|author=Rioux, Marcel|title=Quebec in Question|url=http://www.lorimer.ca/en/Book/1760/Quebec-in-Question.html|year=1971|publisher=Lorimer|isbn=978-0-88862-191-7|pages=210}}</ref> Given this declaration, seven years of bombings, and communiques throughout that time that strove to present an image of a powerful organization spread secretly throughout all sectors of society, the authorities took significant action.

The events of October 1970 marked a significant loss of support for the violent wing of the Quebec sovereigntist movement.  This came after it had gained support over nearly ten years<ref name="flqanatomy">{{Cite book|last=Fournier|first=Louis|title=F.L.Q. : the anatomy of an underground movement|publisher=NC Press|year=1984|isbn=9780919601918|location=Toronto|oclc=11406935}}</ref>{{rp|256}} and increased support for political means of attaining independence, including support for the sovereigntist Parti Québécois, which went on to take power at the provincial level in 1976. In 1987, after the defeat of the [[Meech Lake Accord]], which sought to amend the [[Constitution of Canada]] to resolve the passage by a previous government of the ''[[Constitution Act 1982]]'' without Quebec's ratification, a pro-independence political party, the [[Bloc Québécois]], was also created at the federal level.

The deployment of the military as an aid to civil power was very unpopular with the senior leadership of the Canadian Forces.<ref name="milhist"/>{{rp|257}} In the 1950s the primary purpose of the Canadian Army was to fight against the Red Army in Central Europe if World War Three broke out.<ref name="milhist"/>{{rp|238}} During the Pearson years and even more so under Trudeau there was a tendency on the part of the government to cut military spending and to shift the role of the Canadian Forces to acting more as an internal security force.<ref name="milhist"/>{{rp|256}} In 1968–69, Trudeau had seriously considered pulling out of NATO and stayed only to avoid damaging relations with the United States and Western Europe.

On April 3, 1969, Trudeau announced that Canada would stay in NATO after all, but he drastically cut military spending and pulled out half of the 10,000 Canadian soldiers and airmen stationed in West Germany.<ref name="milhist"/>{{rp|255}} In the same speech Trudeau stated that safeguarding Canada against external and internal threats would be the number-one mission of the Canadian Forces, guarding North America in co-operation with the United States would be the number-two mission, and NATO commitments would be the number-three mission.<ref name="milhist"/>{{rp|255}} In early 1970 the government introduced a white paper ''Defence in the Seventies'', which stated the "Priority One" of the Canadian Forces would be upholding internal security rather than preparing for World War III, which of course meant a sharp cut in military spending since the future enemy was now envisioned to be the FLQ rather than the Red Army.<ref name="milhist"/>{{rp|256}}

The October Crisis, much to the dismay of the generals, was used by Trudeau as an argument for transforming the Canadian Forces into a force whose "Priority One" was internal security.<ref name="milhist"/>{{rp|257}} Many officers knew very well that the "Priority One" of internal security was "a greater threat than any other potential role."<ref name="milhist"/>{{rp|255}} By the end of the 1970s, the Canadian Forces had been transformed by Trudeau into an internal security force that was not capable of fighting a major conventional war.<ref name="milhist"/>{{rp|259–260}}

By 1982 all the convicted participants had been paroled and all of those sent to Cuba had returned to Canada, some completing short sentences in Canada.

In 1988, the ''War Measures Act'' was replaced by the ''[[Emergencies Act]]'' and the ''[[Emergency Preparedness Act]]'' (which in turn was replaced by the ''[[Emergency Management Act]]'' in 2007).

In October 2020, 50 years following the October Crisis, [[Yves-François Blanchet]], the party and parliamentary leader of the sovereigntist Bloc Québécois, introduced a motion in the House of Commons demanding an official apology from the federal government, now led by Prime Minister [[Justin Trudeau]], son of Pierre Trudeau, for invoking the ''War Measures Act''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bloc seeks official apology for October Crisis detentions |url=https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1813403715519}}</ref>