North America’s Problems

Most people did not suspect that Canada had problems with urban revolutionaries. But late in 1970, terrorists kidnapped James Cross, a senior British trade commissioner in Quebec. Five days later the terrorists struck again; Quebec’s Labor Minister Pierre Laporte was also kidnapped.

Who were the kidnappers? They were members of a group called the F.L.Q., the Front for the Liberation of Quebec. They want the province of Quebec to be independent from the rest of Canada, and so for at least seven years have been committing acts of terrorism. What price did they demand for their hostages? The release of twenty-three political prisoners, $500,000 in gold and a plane to fly them to Cuba or Algeria.

The government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau declared all-out war on the terrorists by invoking Canada’s 1914 War Measures Act. This drastic measure had been used before only in the two world wars, never in peacetime. It suspended civil liberties and gave police extraordinary powers.

Less than two days later one of the hostages, Pierre Laporte, was found murdered. The country was stunned. The other hostage, James Cross, was held prisoner for fifty-nine days but then was released in an exchange. Canada’s government allowed the kidnappers and some of their relatives safe passage out of the country.

In nations classified as democracies, governments usually do not take such drastic action. But when the two officials were kidnapped in Canada, and the War Measures Act was invoked, any peace officer was empowered to search and arrest a person without a warrant. They could detain anyone up to ninety days without bail, and for three weeks without any charges being laid.

That a liberal country such as Canada would resort to such drastic measures shocked many. Some felt that this power could be misused. The New York Times said in December: “There is little question that legitimate political dissent in Canada is today much more difficult than it was two months ago.”