"Just watch me!"
October 16, 1970: Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of Canada invokes the War Measures Act, in an effort to fight what became known as the October Crisis. It is a story that most Americans don't know about. It could have become much bigger.
The War Measures Act became law on August 22, 1914, in the 1st month of World War I, which provides for the types of emergency measures that the Canadian federal government could take in the event of a Declaration of War, an invasion of the country, or an insurrection within the country.
It should be noted that this was less than 30 years after Louis Riel led people of the First Nations (what Canada calls its indigenous peoples, instead of "Indians" or "Native Canadians") in the North-West Rebellion of 1885, which certainly counted as an insurrection, and would have fallen under the grounds of the War Measures Act had it been in place at the time. It was still fresh in Canadians' minds.
As with some American measures during World War I, the Act was questioned for some suspensions of civil liberties. During World War II, the Act was used to do what the American government also regrettably did: Start internment camps for Canada residents of Japanese descent, even if they were native-born citizens. After that war, it was widely believed that the Act would not have to be used again, barring a World War III.
The Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) were leftist Quebec separatists, hoping to use violence to establish a socialist, Francophone-only Republic of Quebec. In 1963, they committed several terrorist attacks in and around Montreal, leading Prime Minister John Diefenbaker to ask, "Is this Ireland?" Arrests were made, but there would be more attacks through the 1960s, though with few deaths.
On October 5, 1970, an FLQ cell kidnapped James Cross, the British trade commissioner in Montreal. The federal government in Ottawa chose not to give in to their demands. On October 10, another cell kidnapped Pierre Laporte, Vice Premier and Minister of Employment and Labour for the Province of Quebec. They allow Laporte to write a letter to the Premier of Quebec (equivalent to an American State's Governor), Robert Bourassa, telling him he was being treated well, and asking him to negotiate for his release.
On October 13, Prime Minister Trudeau, who as Justice Minister under his predecessor, Lester Pearson, had been a champion of civil liberties, was walking into a meeting when he was stopped by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reporter Tim Ralfe. This exchange followed:
Ralfe: What you're talking about to me is choices, and my choice is to live in a society that is free and democratic, which means that you don't have people with guns running around in it.
Trudeau: Correct.
Ralfe: And one of the things I have to give up for that choice is the fact that people like you may be kidnapped.
Trudeau: Sure, but this isn't my choice, obviously. You know, I think it is more important to get rid of those who are committing violence against the total society and those who are trying to run the government through a parallel power by establishing their authority by kidnapping and blackmail.
And I think it is our duty as a government to protect government officials and important people in our society against being used as tools in this blackmail. Now, you don't agree to this, but I am sure that, once again with hindsight, you would probably have found it preferable if Mr. Cross and Mr. Laporte had been protected from kidnapping, which they weren't, because these steps we're taking now weren't taken. But even with your hindsight, I don't see how you can deny that.
Ralfe: No, I still go back to the choice that you have to make in the kind of society that you live in.
Trudeau: Yeah, well there's a lot of bleeding hearts around who just don't like to see people with helmets and guns. All I can say is, go on and bleed, but it's more important to keep law and order in this society than to be worried about weak-kneed people who don't like the looks of a soldier's helmet.
Ralfe: At any cost? How far would you go with that? How far would you extend that?
Trudeau: Well, just watch me.
Ralfe: At reducing civil liberties? To that extent?
Trudeau: To what extent?
Ralfe: Well, if you extend this and you say, ok, you're going to do anything to protect them, does this include wire-tapping, reducing other civil liberties in some way?
Trudeau: Yes. I think the society must take every means at its disposal to defend itself against the emergence of a parallel power which defies the elected power in this country and I think that goes to any distance. So long as there is a power in here which is challenging the elected representative of the people I think that power must be stopped and I think it's only, I repeat, weak-kneed bleeding hearts who are afraid to take these measures.
And so, the people of Canada took Trudeau at his word, and just watched him. On October 14, he convened a meeting of his Cabinet, to discuss measures to end the crisis. The Provincial government had received a public statement, signed by 16 prominent Quebec residents, asking them to negotiate the liberation of the hostages, no matter the cost, and no matter what the federal government thought.
On October 15, Bourassa requested that Trudeau send Canadian Armed Forces troops to protect politicians and public buildings, which Trudeau would have had the right to do under the National Defence Act, passed in 1922. Trudeau assented, and by nightfall, they were on the streets of Montreal.
On October 16, at 4:00 AM, North American Eastern Time, the Cabinet proclaimed the existence of an "apprehended insurrection," and issued a decree granting exceptional powers powers to the police and the Canadian Armed Forces under the War Measures Act.
On October 17, the police found Laporte, in the drunk of a car near the Saint-Hubert airport, south of Montreal. He had been strangled to death. Under a man with less compunction than Trudeau, this could have led to Canada becoming a genuine police state, if only temporarily. Under a man with less wisdom than Trudeau, the terrorists could have escaped with the still-prisoner Cross, over the U.S.-Canadian border, just 40 miles away.
But the presence of the police and the army were enough to stop any more terrorist attacks and kidnappings. On November 6, police raided a cell's hiding place. Bernard Lortie was arrested, and charged with the kidnapping and murder of Laporte.
On December 3, realizing that the game was up, the FLQ released Cross, unharmed. His kidnappers -- Marc Carbonneau, Yves Langlois, Jacques Lanctôt, his sister Louise Lanctôt, her husband Jacques Cossette-Trudel -- were granted safe passage to Cuba by the federal government, approved by Cuba's dictator, Fidel Castro.
On December 23, Trudeau announced that all troops stationed in Quebec would be withdrawn on January 5, 1971. On December 28, arrests were made in Saint-Luc, Quebec: Paul Rose, Jacques Rose and Francis Simard.
Ultimately, 497 people were arrested, but 465 were released without being charged with anything. Lortie was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and served 7; Paul Rose and Simard served 10, Jacques Rose 5. Jacques and Louise Lanctôt, and Jacques Cossette-Trudel returned to Canada in 1979, and each served 2 years in prison. Carbonneau returned to Canada in 1981, Langlois in 1982. Neither was imprisoned.
The FLQ did not give up, and, when things settled down, committed more terrorist acts throughout 1971. But the tide of public opinion had turned against them. A few more acts were committed in 1972 and '73, but that would be it.
Three biographies of Trudeau have used the title Just Watch Me: Larry Zolf's, published in 1984 after Trudeau left office; Ron Coleman's 2003 book, subtitled Trudeau's Tragic Legacy; and Volume 2 of John English's 2009 book, the 1st volume going up to 1967, titled Citizen of the World. Director Catherine Annau made a documentary in 1999, titled Just Watch Me: Trudeau and the '70s Generation.
In 1988, the Emergencies Act was passed, repealing the War Measures Act and providing for actions more in line with Canada's wider embrace of civil liberties than America's.
Pierre Trudeau died in 2000. So did Tim Ralfe. Paul Rose died in 2013, Fancis Simard in 2015, James Cross in 2021. As of October 16, 2022, Marc Carbonneau, Yves Langlois, Jacques Lanctôt, Louise Lanctôt, Jacques Cossette-Trudel, Bernard Lortie and Jacques Rose are still alive.
In 2015, Trudeau's son, Justin Trudeau, was elected Prime Minister. As of October 16, 2022, he still holds the post.
*
October 16, 1970 was a Friday. The baseball season had ended the day before, when the Baltimore Orioles won Game 5 of the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. Football was in midweek.
There were 5 games played in the NBA:
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the San Diego Rockets, 127-119 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Elvin Hayes scored 34 for the Rockets, but the Sixers had 6 players score at least 14 points. The Rockets moved to Houston the next year.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Chicago Bulls, 106-102 at the Chicago Stadium. Jerry West scored 29 points, while Wilt Chamberlain had 26 points and 31 rebounds.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the San Francisco Warriors, 120-106 at the Cow Palace outside San Francisco in Daly City, California. Jerry Lucas scored 31 points and had 16 rebounds for the Warriors, to no avail.
* And the Portland Trail Blazers, in the 1st game in franchise history, beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, another expansion team, playing its 2nd game, 115-112 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum. Jim Barnett led all scorers with 31 points. A 3rd expansion team, the Buffalo Braves, had debuted 2 days earlier. They are now the Los Angeles Clippers.
There were 2 games in the American Basketball Association. The New York Nets beat the Miami Floridians, 105-92 at the Island Garden in West Hempstead, Long Island. And the Indiana Pacers beat the Denver Rockets, 115-103 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum). Anticipating their acceptance into the NBA, where Houston already had the Rockets, in 1974, the Denver Rockets became the Denver Nuggets.
And there was 1 game in the NHL: The Boston Bruins beat the California Golden Seals, 5-1 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Bobby Orr scored 2 goals, while Phil Esposito had a goal and 2 assists.
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