Editing Squamish Five

{{short description|1980s Canadian urban guerrilla group}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox militant organization
| name       = Direct Action
| other_name = Squamish Five, Wimmin's Fire Brigade, Vancouver Five
| dates      = 1981–1983
| motives    = War against the state
| country    = [[Canada]]
| ideology   = [[Anarchism]]
| attacks    = [[Bombings]], [[arson]]
| size       = 5+ members
}}
{{Anarchism sidebar}}
The '''Squamish Five''' (sometimes referred to as the '''Vancouver Five''')<ref name="Antliff2004" /> were a group of self-styled "[[urban guerrilla]]s" active in [[Canada]] during the early 1980s. Their chosen name was '''Direct Action'''. The five were [[Ann Hansen]], Brent Taylor, Juliet Caroline Belmas, Doug Stewart and [[Gerry Hannah]].

== Campaigns ==
[[File:Gerry_Hannah.JPG|thumb|Direct Action member and [[Subhumans (Canadian band)|Subhumans]] bassist [[Gerry Hannah]]]]

The group's first action was in 1982: vandalizing the [[British Columbia Ministry of Environment]] offices.<ref name="threat">{{Cite book |last1=Hamilton |first1=Dwight |chapter=Direct Action |title=Terror Threat: International and Homegrown Terrorists and Their Threat to Canada |pages=23–25 |date=2007 |language=en |isbn=978-1-55002-736-5 |publisher=Dundurn Press |location=Toronto |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/terrorthreatinte0000hami/page/23/mode/1up |df=mdy-all }}</ref> They began training with stolen weapons in a deserted area north of [[Vancouver, British Columbia|Vancouver]] and stole a large cache of [[dynamite]] belonging to the Department of Highways.<ref name="ef-belmas" />

On the morning of May 30, 1982, Hansen, Taylor, and Stewart travelled to [[Vancouver Island]] and set off a large [[bomb]] at the Dunsmuir [[BC Hydro]] substation. The damage was extensive, causing over $3 million CAD in damage and leaving four transformers damaged beyond repair.  Nobody was injured.<ref name="Antliff2004">{{cite book|author=Antliff, Allan|author-link=Allan Antliff|title=Only a Beginning: An Anarchist Anthology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Of-9Yjbf5OgC|access-date=May 16, 2009|publisher=[[Arsenal Pulp Press]]|year=2004|pages=75|isbn=1-55152-167-9}}</ref>

=== Litton Industries bombing ===
{{Main|Litton Industries bombing}}

In October 1982, the five filled a stolen pick-up truck with {{convert|550|kg|lb|abbr=on}} of dynamite and drove from Vancouver to [[Toronto]]. Their target was [[Litton Industries]], a company producing [[Guidance system|guidance components]] for the controversial American [[cruise missile]]s many feared would increase the risk of [[nuclear war]].<ref name="Antliff2004" />

=== "Wimmin's Fire Brigade" and Red Hot Video firebombing ===
{{Quote box
| quote  = Red Hot Video is part of a multi-billion dollar pornography industry that teaches men to equate sexuality with violence. Although these tapes violate the Criminal Code of Canada and the B.C. guidelines on pornography, all lawful attempts to shutdown Red Hot Video have failed because the justice system was created and is controlled by rich men to protect their profits and property. As a result, we are left no viable alternative but to change the situation ourselves  through illegal means.This is an act of self-defence against hate propaganda. We will continue to defend ourselves
| author = Wimmin's Fire Brigade, Press Release, November 22, 1982
| source = 
| width  = 50%
| align  = right
}}

The bombers fled Toronto for [[Vancouver]] and ceased their activities as they moved underground together. On November 22, 1982, they emerged as part of a larger group under the name ''"Wimmin's Fire Brigade"''.<ref name="Antliff2004" /> They subsequently [[Molotov cocktail|firebombed]] three franchises of Red Hot Video, a chain of video pornography stores which had attracted the attention of [[feminist]] activists and the local community and was accused of selling [[snuff films]] as well as violent and [[paedophilia|paedophilic]] pornography. The majority of the stores closed or changed names.<ref>{{cite book |author-last1=Hansen |author-first1=Ann |title=Direct Action: memoirs of an urban guerrilla |date=2001 |publisher=Between the Lines |location=Toronto |isbn=9781902593487 |page=301}}</ref>

Ann Hansen alleges in her memoirs that the police were surveilling them at the time of the Red Hot Video action, which would mean the police broke the law to get the evidence needed to proceed with the charges on the earlier bombings.<ref>{{cite book |author-last1=Hansen |author-first1=Ann |title=Direct Action : memoirs of an urban guerrilla |date=2001 |publisher=Between the Lines |location=Toronto |isbn=9781902593487 |page=348}}</ref>

== Arrest and trial ==
The high-profile crimes attracted major police attention and the [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police|Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)]] was closing in.  On the morning of January 20, 1983, an RCMP tactical unit disguised as a road crew captured all five on the road to their training area.<ref name="inside">Hamilton, Dwight. "Inside Canadian Intelligence", 2006</ref>

Punk band [[D.O.A. (band)|D.O.A]] released a pair of benefit singles, ''Right to Be Wild'' and ''Burn It Down'', for the arrested members.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Meissner|first=Dirk|date=April 27, 1983|title=D.O.A Rocks Strand|page=B6|work=Kamloops News|url=|access-date=}}</ref>

== Legacy ==

After prison, Juliet Belmas attended [[Emily Carr University of Art and Design]], and completed a degree in film. She produced independent art films on the conditions of women in prison and was working on her memoirs as of 2012.<ref name="ef-belmas">[http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20100518052124702 interview with Juliet Belmas in Earth First! Journal] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225134205/http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20100518052124702 |date=February 25, 2012 }}</ref>

In 1987, experimental filmmaker Oliver Hockenhull released ''[[Determinations (film)|Determinations]]'', an avant-garde documentary which criticized the political undertones in media coverage of the Squamish Five.<ref>Calvin Wharton, "Oliver Hockenhull's Determinations". ''[[Cinema Canada]]'', April 1988. pp. 31-32.</ref>

In 1988, [[CBC Television]] released an award winning [[docudrama]] entitled ''[[The Squamish Five (film)|The Squamish Five]]''.<ref>[[Paul Donovan (writer)|Paul Donovan]], "The Squamish Five". ''[[Cinema Canada]]'', January 1989.</ref> The film's cast included [[Nicky Guadagni]] as Ann Hansen, [[Michael McManus (Canadian actor)|Michael McManus]] as Brent Taylor, [[Robyn Stevan]] as Juliet Belmas, [[Albert Schultz]] as Doug Stewart, and David McLeod as Gerry Hannah.<ref>Greg Quill, "They're the only terrorists we've got eh?". ''[[Toronto Star]]'', November 5, 1988.</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Anarchism in Canada]]
* [[Action directe (armed group)|Action directe]] – A 1970s and 1980s French urban guerrilla group
* [[Green anarchism]] – A branch of anarchism which puts a particular emphasis on environmental issues
* [[Anarcha-feminism]] – A branch of anarchism combining anarchism and feminism

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120225134205/http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20100518052124702 Militant Feminism: An Explosive Interview with and Urban Guerilla] Interview with Juliet Belmas in May/June 2010 issue of Earth First! Journal
* [http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/profiles/vancouverfive.html The Vancouver Five (aka Direct Action)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050827185052/http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/profiles/vancouverfive.html |date=August 27, 2005 }}. Includes an interview with Ann Hansen and an essay by a supporter of the Five in Toronto.
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20060513181243/http://www.g7welcomingcommittee.com/discography/g7031.php Direct Action: Reflections on Armed Resistance and the Squamish Five]'', an audio CD recorded by Ann Hansen, presenting information from her book.
* [http://www.uniset.ca/other/cs5/27CCC3d142.html Belmas court records], court sentencing documents relating to Belmas' court trials.
* [http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/peter-gelderloos-how-nonviolence-protects-the-state How nonviolence protects the state], an essay which discusses the legitimacy of violence in civil unrest; the Squamish Five are cited as examples of the effectiveness of the technique.

[[Category:Defunct anarchist militant groups]]
[[Category:Defunct anarchist organizations in North America]]
[[Category:Guerrilla organizations]]
[[Category:Canadian anarchists]]
[[Category:Canadian anti-capitalists]]
[[Category:Anti-pornography movements]]
[[Category:Organizations based in Vancouver]]
[[Category:Quantified groups of defendants]]
[[Category:Trials in Canada]]
[[Category:Direct action]]
[[Category:Terrorism in Canada]]
[[Category:Paramilitary organizations based in Canada]]
[[Category:Anarchist terrorism]]