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Topic spans: 1970 - 1970
The October Crisis: Civil Liberties Suspended
In October 1970, tanks roamed city streets and soldiers in full battle gear raided homes in their hunt for "terrorists." They were looking for the Front de libération du Québec; French Canadian nationalists who abducted a British diplomat and a Quebec minister. Some felt like they were living in a police state. How far would Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau go? "Just watch me," he said. Three days later he invoked the War Measures Act and a nation waited with civil liberties suspended.
15 television clips
7 radio clips
Labour minister found dead
Broadcast Date: Oct. 17, 1970
On Oct. 17, 1970, callers to a Montreal radio station tell reporters Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte has been murdered and his body can be found in the St. Hubert airport parking lot. Laporte's body is discovered strangled in the trunk of a car, six days after the Front de libération du Québec snatched the minister from his Montreal home.Labour minister found dead
• The four members of the FLQ's Chenier cell were arrested.• Paul Rose and Francis Simard were sentenced to life in jail for Laporte's murder.
• Bernard Lortie was sentenced to 20 years for the kidnapping.
• Jacques Rose, who was initially acquitted, was later sentenced to eight years as an accessory to the crime.
• Years later the Duchaîne report, an official Quebec government inquiry, revealed Laporte was probably strangled by accident. In an attempt to restrain him from yelling for help, someone grabbed and held the neck of his sweater from behind, inadvertently strangling him with his gold necklace.
• The inquiry found that Paul Rose wasn't present the night Laporte died. In 1982, Rose was granted parole.
Labour minister found dead
Medium: Television
Program: CBC Television News
Broadcast Date: Oct. 17, 1970
Guest(s):
Duration: 1:21
Last updated:
March 3, 2008
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22 clips in this topic . page
Radio
2:00
Oct. 10, 1970
Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte is kidnapped by the FLQ in the escalating October Crisis.
Television
7:32
Dec. 5, 1970
For the first time since the October Crisis kidnapping, James Cross describes eight horrific weeks of confinement by the FLQ.
Labour minister found dead.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: March 3, 2008.
[Page consulted on Feb. 14, 2012.]