Editor's note: The Telegraph-Journal recently published an article headlined "Letter threatens FLQ attacks in English-speaking Montreal." The article reported that the RCMP is investigating two letters signed "FLQ: Camille-Laurin Cell" threatening to attack public places, rail lines and businesses that don't conform to Quebec's French-language sign law.

For author Micheline MacDonald, the article brought back memories of the October Crisis, when kidnappings by FLQ terrorist cells triggered the War Measures Act and paralyzed Montreal. Realizing "there is a whole generation who would not know who or what" the FLQ is, she submitted the following memoir, in the hope "that part of our history can never be repeated."

Wearing camouflage fatigues and carrying full battle gear, they stand within all entrances of official buildings. Their rifles are held at port arms and looking into their eyes you know that they will brook no nonsense. East Germany, South Africa, Italy? No. The country is Canada, the city Montr??al, and the date October 17, 1970. The streets of this beautiful city are being patrolled by the military forces of our country.

 

Why? Because the Front de Lib??ration du Qu??bec, better known as the FLQ, has escalated its activities. They have kidnapped two prominent men, James Cross British High Commissioner to Canada, and Pierre Laporte Minister of Labour and Immigration in the Qu??bec Government. At 4 a.m. yesterday morning, the Governor-General in Council approved an emergency proclamation that automatically brought the War Measures Act into force. By virtue of that Act, soldiers and members of local police forces can enter homes without a search warrant and arrest the residents. It effectively limits civil rights in order to protect the country. The military has taken over and we are now on a war footing.

Until I married in 1962 this metropolis had been my home ground. It was where I had lived, worked and played for most of my adult life. At that time it was one of the safest cities anywhere and a woman walking its streets was as secure as if she were in her own back yard. What I am now seeing is breaking my heart. I feel as though I am under siege and being watched wherever I go is not a pleasant feeling. If it were possible I would return to my small village in New Brunswick where most of the time I forget to lock my door at night.

I came to Montr??al in order to be   near a beloved aunt during her final days. She is dying of cancer and my sister and I have been spending most of our days at the hospital. When not with her we are glued to the television, as the news channel is broadcasting 24 hours a day. No gangster movie can compare with what we are seeing.

Soldiers and police everywhere and homes are being invaded by the forces of the law.

In order to make sense of the FLQ's actions, we must first consider what possessed some French Canadians to form a revolutionary movement. They saw it as the only way for the people of Qu??bec to win back their country and rid themselves of les maudits anglais, those hated English bosses who, because of their money and position, make all the rules in business and government. The animosity goes back to the battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759 when General Wolfe defeated General Montcalm and France lost its colony. The French Canadians of Qu??bec remember well and some of them hold grudges forever.

March of 1963 saw the beginning of the first wave of FLQ terrorism. At that time a communiqu?? was issued in the belief that the Qu??b??cois could be motivated to fight. What follows is a part of that communiqu??:

"The FLQ is a revolutionary movement of volunteers ready to die for the political and economic independence of Qu??bec.

"The suicide-commandos of the FLQ have as their principle mission the complete destruction by systematic sabotage of:

a) all colonial (federal) symbols and institutions, in particular the RCMP and the armed forces.

b) all information media in the language (English) which holds us in contempt.

"All FLQ volunteers have on their persons during acts of sabotage identification papers for the Republique de Qu??bec.

We ask that our wounded and our prisoners be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention on the rules of war.

"Independence or Death"

From the start of that first wave until July of that year, fires were set in several rural train stations. There were also numerous acts of vandalism and twelve bombings, one of which resulted in the death of Wilfred O'Neil, the night watchman at an army recruiting centre. During the same period, a mailbox bomb seriously injured Sergeant Major Walter Leja of the Canadian Army.

The second wave, from September 1963 to April 1964, consisted of several hold-ups at military establishments, regimental armories, and banks. These robberies netted the FLQ a total of $13,640 in cash and $41,000 worth of munitions and other military equipment.

 

In June of 1964 began the third wave of terror, and it lasted until August of 1965. In hindsight, it is easy to see that the movement was escalating its preparations for revolution. This time it concentrated on thefts of dynamite, detonators, and more arms and munitions.

Two bombs were put in place. Luckily one was defused in time and the other didn't have a detonator. The responsibility for all but one of these criminal acts was claimed by the FLQ in its clandestine newspaper La Cogn??e.

The next wave of terror, which started in October 1965, followed the usual pattern of robberies and explosions and lasted until December 1967. During that time, La Cogn??e published information about acts of violence and thefts along with instructions on how to manufacture bombs. In May of 1966 the movement found a piece of land at St-Alphonse near Joliette which could serve as an army base for the new revolutionary army.

During the same month one person was killed and two injured when a factory was bombed. In July a bomb placed at the Dominion Textiles factory in Montr??al exploded prematurely and killed Jean Corbeau, a member of the FLQ. The fourth wave ended in December 1967 with a theft of guns and munitions at Cap-de-la-Madeleine. The monetary value of the armaments was $9,000.

The fifth and final wave was, of course, the most heinous. It began in September 1968 with the bombing of liquor stores in Montr??al and culminated with the two abductions which took place a few days ago. Between those dates, there were 35 bombings which resulted in 37 injuries and the death of Mademoiselle Saint-Germain. She was fatally wounded in the bombing of the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence in Ottawa. In August, some of the FLQ terrorists were sent to Jordan to train alongside Palestinian commandos and by September, when a car was booby trapped behind the headquarters of the Bank of Montreal in Montr??al, the stage had been set for this final act of terrorism.

This evening, as my sister and I watch to see what will happen to the two kidnap victims, and consequently to the province of our birth, the following communiqu?? found at the Place des Arts is broadcast on radio and television:

"Faced with the arrogance of the federal government and its lackey [Premier Robert] Bourassa, faced with their obvious bad faith, the FLQ has therefore decided to act.

"Pierre Laporte, minister of unemployment and assimilation, was executed at 6:18 tonight by the Dieppe (Royal 22nd) cell. You will find the body in the trunk of the green Chevrolet (9J-2420) at the St-Hubert base.

"We shall overcome.

FLQ

"P.S. The exploiters of the Qu??b??cois people had better watch out."

As we sit in front of the television, barely able to comprehend what we have just seen and heard, the images change. First we see a car, then the trunk of that car, and lastly a body in that trunk. The bloody body of Pierre Laporte. Unable to watch any longer I turn off the television and my sister and I, tears running unabashedly down our cheeks, suddenly realize that we have just witnessed our country's loss of innocence.

The FLQ communiques published here are reprinted from The Revolutionary Process in Qu??bec by Nicholas M. Regush and Pierre Valli??res and The Assasination of Pierre Laporte by Pierre Valli??res.