Pierre Trudeau War Measures Act Essay

In total 497 people were arrested, including singer Pauline Julien and her partner, future Quebec Minister Gérald Godin, poet Gaston Miron, union activist Michel Chartrand and journalist Nick Auf der Maur.This act was imposed only after the negotiations with the FLQ had broken off and the Premier of Quebec was facing the next stage in the FLQ's agenda.The Government of Quebec also requested military aid to the civil power, and Canadian Forces deployed throughout Quebec; they acted in a support role to the civil authorities of Quebec.

Other targets included Montreal City Hall, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, armed forces recruiting offices, railway tracks, and army installations.

FLQ members, in a strategic move, had stolen several tons of dynamite from military and industrial sites, and, financed by bank robberies, they threatened through their official communication organ, known as La Cognée, that more attacks were to come.

The two named Canadian Forces operations were Operation Ginger to mount guards on the Government of Canada buildings and important residences outside of Quebec, and Operation Essay to provide aid to the civil power in Quebec.

Régiment, more commonly known as the "Van Doos", the most famous French-Canadian regiment in the Canadian Army, was deployed to Montreal to guard buildings; it was understood that deploying troops from English-speaking regiments in Quebec as an aid to civil power would be politically problematic, and throughout the operation, the Army made a point of deploying as much as possible French-Canadian soldiers to guard buildings in Quebec.

The Canadian Army saw no action during its deployment which lasted until November 12 and only one soldier was killed, when he tripped over his loaded rifle on guard duty and inadvertently killed himself with his own gun.

Outside Quebec, mainly in the Ottawa area, the federal government deployed troops under its own authority to guard federal offices and employees.

The October Crisis (French: La crise d'octobre) occurred in October 1970 in the province of Quebec in Canada, mainly in the Montreal metropolitan area.

Members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped the provincial Deputy Premier Pierre Laporte and British diplomat James Cross.

In response, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoked the only peacetime use of the War Measures Act.

The kidnappers murdered Laporte and negotiations led to Cross's release and the kidnappers' exile to Cuba.