Pierre Laporte

The kidnapped and lifeless body of Pierre Laporte was discovered October 17, 1970 - the day after Prime Minister Trudeau's televised announcement to Canadians of the activation by the federal government of measures of war upon the FLQ organization. The cabinet member next to Premier Bourassa, Laporte had been taken in a car at gun-point near his home by soldiers of the FLQ one week earlier.

This was a second successive kidnapping staged by the Liberation Front - it had just taken British diplomat James Cross from his Montreal residence less than two weeks before.

After Laporte's nabbing the provincial cabinet housed in Quebec City was brought over to Montreal, where forces of the Canadian military already had been deployed and where the police in the city now were empowered to immediately jail the entire membership of the Front.

A municipal election scheduled for the 25th of the month went ahead, which Jean Drapeau's party completely swept.

James Cross was freed December 3.

The video here starts with Trudeau's response to Laporte's fate, then shows Drapeau eulogizing, then Rene Levesque, speaking as leader of the Parti Quebecois, the advocate of legal independence for Quebec.

Also shown are scenes of the funeral and part of the statement on the cause of death.

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[Similie]

My friend was at Sir George Williams University during the October Crisis. The daughter of Pierre Laporte was in his class. He never saw her again after her father was kidnapped. As long as we live, the memories of the those terrible autumn days will haunt us.

[Anekantavad]

@lardonbiencuit I like how the clip perfectly illustrates Lévesque's profound modesty. This perfectly mirrors the Québécois peoples' sentiments, even if they like to sometimes hide their modesty under a (somewhat unconvincing) prickliness.

May we always be friends.

[lardonbiencuit]

@Anekantavad Thank You! as a Québec separatist, its really refreshing to see that there are people in Canada who take the time to try to understand this cause. I personally am ashamed of what the main independance movement has become today, especially within the PQ and Bloc. Aside from the idea of independance itself, they could not be more detached from Lévesque's original vision of a sovereign Québec, which took into account not only the notion of independace, but of social change as well.

[Anekantavad]

René Lévesque makes an articulate case. I am an English Canadian, and I certainly don't blame the Québécois as a people for what happened. No matter what happens politically, even if Quebec separates, the Québécois will always be my fellow-countrymen.