IP: Remembering Canada's 1970 "October Crisis" and the War Measures Act

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 15:47:17 -0700
> From: Brad Templeton <brad () templetons com>
> To: farber () cis upenn edu
> Cc: ip-sub-1 () majordomo pobox com
> Subject: Remembering Canada's 1970 "October Crisis" and the War Measures Act
> User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5i
> Organization: http://www.templetons.com/brad
>
>
> As events unfold here, I am reminded of a piece of history vivid to me
> as one of the biggest political events of my childhood, but which
> non-Canadians may know little about.  It's history may tell us something,
> even though it seems sometimes that even those who remember history
> are still condemned to repeat it.
>
> In 1970, seperatist (FLQ) terrorists in Quebec kidnapped first a British
> trade commissioner and then a Quebec cabinet minister, demanding the
> release of their compatriots.
>
> The response was the use by Trudeau of the "War Measures Act," which
> allowed the government to suspend civil rights.  Thousands of people
> were arrested without charges, sometimes in midnight raids, simply
> for having associated with seperatists.    Montreal was locked down
> under a form of martial law.   Even press censorship was threatened, steps
> far further than anything in the USA -- And much of Canada cheered it on.
> (Canada had no constitution at the time.  The Charter of Rights and
> freedoms was drafted under Trudeau's watch 12 years later.)
>
> The FLQ cell that kidnapped Laporte, the cabinet minister, murdered him.
> Rumour was they did it in response to the War Measures Act.
>
> Even 30 years later, I was surprised to see polls that show much of the
> public feeling it was the right move.
>
> Those interested should consider doing searches for phrases like
> "War Measures Act" and "FLQ" and "October Crisis" to find articles about it.
> A CBC feature on it is at:
>
>     http://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/october/
>
> With a timeline at:
>
>     http://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/october/timeline.html
>
>
> This may tell you how a society may react to an ongoing terrorist
> threat, though in this case a domestic one, and one attacking a government
> official.


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