The October Crisis was one of the most memorable defining moments in Canadian history in the 1960s, and it truly tested the length in which Pierre Trudeau would go to stop these terrorist attacks. The October Crisis followed the various violent acts committed by the Front de Libération du Québec who wished for Quebec independence; mailboxes were placed with bombs, and the Montreal Stock Exchange was bombed in 1969. The October Crisis began on October 5, 1970, where James Cross, a British trade commissioner, was kidnapped by the FLQ. In exchange for the safe return of Cross, ransoms were demanded for the FLQ. While the government worked in trying to rescue him, Pierre Laporte, a cabinet minister for Quebec, was captured five days later. On October 15, 1970, the first time the War Measures Act was used during peacetime occurred; Premier Robert Bourassa and Trudeau decided it was necessary in stopping this possible terrorist threat. 450 suspects were arrested by police, most being released right after. Meanwhile, Laporte had been murdered and stuffed in the trunk of a car; this ended most public support for the FLQ and soon the threat of terrorists diminished. Eventually, Cross was discovered and he was …show more content…
Trudeau had to work quickly and efficiently in order to locate Cross before he was hurt, as well as make very difficult decisions. He chose to enact the War Measures Act because the FLQ appeared as a real threat at the time which could potentially overthrow the government. The various attacks that they planned before injured and killed innocent lives, and Trudeau was not going to stand and do nothing. Furthermore, the support of the FLQ was growing large at the time, with about 3000 people gathering up at the Paul Sauvé Arena during the October Crisis in order to show their support. If Trudeau did not diminish this revolution, it may have grown into an actual terrorist threat at
There were a number of things that were taken into consideration before the court could reach any final judgment. The history of hate propaganda was brought into consideration. Prior to the Canadian Charter, the laws like De Scandalis Magnatum, laws for the crime of seditious libel provided that a person was free to express what he wanted unless he has an intention or disobey openly, act in a violent way against the authority or he has a seditious attention where there is a unlawful use of force for bringing about a governmental change in
Throughout history, the actions of governments have always been debated; however, occasionally there are certain events which spark much controversy, both at the time of the event and by historians today. One of these controversial acts was the invocation of the War Measures Act in 1970, an act which suspended the civil liberties of Canadian citizens. In October 1970, in what became known as the October Crisis, the Front de libération du Québec, (commonly known as the FLQ) which was a French Canadian organization advocating independence from Canada, kidnapped two politicians. This initiated a series of events, one of which was the invocation of the War Measures Act by Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau. Many historians argue that Trudeau was justified in invoking the War Measures Act because the October Crisis ended shortly after the Act was invoked. However, this argument is invalid as justification; primarily because the War Measures Act was an extreme overreaction by Trudeau, as the threat of the FLQ was largely small-scale, and the demise of the FLQ was impending with the rise of the Bloc Quebecois. Furthermore, the Act may have inspired Quebecers who favoured separatism, as they saw the government desperately employ the most extreme measure to stop the FLQ. Finally, the War Measures Act suspended the civil rights of citizens within a democracy, violating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In conclusion, Canada should be thankful, not disrespectful, of Trudeau’s implementation if the WMA during the October Crisis of 1970. His actions were acceptable because of the fear presented by the FLQ, the public and governmental demands, and the end result of the October Crisis.
Before the General Strike, the Canadian government was fully invested in WWI, whereas most Canadian citizens were not; the dissonance urged industrial workers to unionize. From the beginning of Canada’s involvement in the Great War, their industrial complex mass-produced supplies and armaments for the Allied Powers. Most Canadian citizens had no qualms with the shift in the job market until there were not enough workers to produce the basic material goods necessary within Canada’s borders. The citizens began to form groups, seemingly in opposition of the government and its advocacy for war. To the Canadian government, this was incredibly concerning, presenting the possi...
John Diefenbaker was instrumental in bringing in the bill of rights, which "provides Canadians with certain quasi-constitutional rights in relation to other federal statutes," (wikipedia.com). The bill of rights was created in 1960 it gave Canadians Freedom of speech and freedom of religion, The right to life, liberty and security of the person, and in another section, rights to fundamental justice; these are all things that were left out of the charter. Diefenbaker also had some questionable decisions like the decision to cancel the Avro Arrow project, which was a mach-2 interceptor jet. This jet was supposed to be the Canadian Air Forces Interceptor from 1960 and beyond. The project had been started when the liberals were in power but in June 1957 the liberals lost the election to John Diefenbaker and the Conservatives. Diefenbaker thought that the project was taking too much time and money and in February 1959 he cancelled the project. Another policy that Diefenbaker passed was the Agriculture Rehabilitation and Development Act that was targeted at enhancing the viability of rural communities through improved resource use and retraining to facilitate the exit of marginal farmers to other jobs as well as authorized the Canadian Wheat Board to make advance payments to producers on a portion of their farm-stored grain. Diefenbaker also played a big part of getting free health care; in 1961 the Royal Commission on Health Services was created, it studied and reported on the health care needs of Canadians. The following year, the Government of Saskatchewan offered free access to physician services to all of its citizens. Diefenbaker set many bills, polices and acts into action but he was also vital in redefining Canada's culture identity.
To answer this, one must address the severity of the crisis, as well as the degree to which the War Measures Act would alleviate the situation. This proves to be an unexpectedly difficult task, as it is impossible to accurately capture the zeitgeist of such a turbulent time period without being subject to bias. However from a purely objective standpoint, the evidence clearly identifies that there was no insurrection, nor was one likely to take place. Trudeau relied heavily on galvanizing the risk that the FLQ posed to the Canadian public. However, this came to be a detriment to his case when the supposed danger was discredited. According to most authorities, the FLQ “was a collection of scattered, radical grouplets who communicated amongst themselves with great difficulty and apprehension”(Conrad et al). It is of course, rather difficult to carry out widespread insurrection without a cohesive unit to do so. Trudeau’s speech relied heavily on the notion that the FLQ posed a greater threat than they realistically did, and by the end of the crisis it was clear that his claims were null. However, Trudeau did not operate alone in his endeavors. The crisis was rapidly escalated in scale by local and national media alike. The media “Fed the notion of a hydra head conspiracy, unknown, unknowable, but of course infinitely dangerous”, an error that almost did more to aid in the FLQ’s influence over the country, than it did to call in any sort of justifiable action (Bothwell, 447-50). This combined with rumors of Quebec dissolving their government due to the “severity” of the situation, a rumor that was initially reported to be started by Trudeau (although it was enforced by numerous parties”) in order to gain the support of the public for the actions he was preparing to take (Clement). It is generally agreed upon that War
The affair took place in Chanak, Turkey. The dispute involved Turks and the British. During the course of the affair, British troops were outnumbered; they were in need of more troops, so they requested Canada’s help. Unlike previously where Canada was automatically at war when Britain declared war, Prime minister King who was in power at that time, insisted that he would have to consult the parliament for a vote, before sending Canadian troops on this mission. He wanted to make decisions on behalf of his country; he believed that “Britain could not assume that Canada would automatically answer her call”.
some of the positive ways in which the war changed Canada but the most negative way in which
Prime Minister Trudeau put into effect the War Measures Act for the first time in Canadian history during peace time. He did this without consulting parliament. However, parliament voted three days later to approve the use of the act. The civil liberties of the citizens of Canada were suspended while the act was in force. In a few cities, officials used the WMA to clean up the streets, picking up "undesirables" and throwing them into jail. More than 450 people were jailed in Quebec for suspected connections to the FLQ. Most were later released without any charges being laid. After the War Measures Act was put into effect, no other public figures in Canada were kidnapped. Eventually Pierre Laporte was murdered by his captors and Cross was released unharmed after his kidnappers were flown to exile in Cuba. But for many in Quebec, the question was raised : what might the federal government do if Quebec ever did decide to leave Canada... the use of the army in the streets and the loss of civil liberties left a bad taste in many people's mouths.
Many Francophones believed that they were being discriminated and treated unfairly due to the British North American Act which failed to recognize the unique nature of the province in its list of provisions. Trudeau, with the aid of several colleagues, fought the imminent wave of social chaos in Quebec with anti-clerical and communist visions he obtained while in his adolescent years. However, as the nationalist movement gained momentum against the Provincial government, Trudeau came to the startling realization that Provincial autonomy would not solidify Quebec's future in the country (he believed that separatism would soon follow) and unless Duplessis could successfully negotiate (on the issue of a constitution) with the rest of Canada, the prospect of self-sovereignty for Quebec would transpire. His first essay (Quebec and the Constitutional Problem) explores
The bill for conscription was passed in a matter of weeks, showing French-Canadians that the federal government was not considering their interests. French-Canadians were also fighting for their own cultural rights, such as the right to use French in Catholic schools in Ontario. Regulation 17 was introduced in 1912 and “restricted French-language education in the province and reignited the simmering debate over language rights.” Multiple school acts in the past had given the French and English populations equal status in the education system until Regulation 17 was brought about and amended all previous acts, infuriating the French population. In the years before the war, Bourassa had spent much of his time “campaigning for greater autonomy and linguistic parity.” When war finally broke out, he was in France, where he had fled in order to return home. On his journey home, he had witnessed Frenchmen unite and pray for the safety of France, and realized that this war could be a uniting moment for Canadians, as well. However, in 1914, Bourassa’s support for the war effort earned the disdain of many English-speaking Canadians who thought the war was a “crusade against evil and required unqualified support.” Bourassa quickly adopted his views about the war and the divide between the English-Canadian imperial nationalists and the French-Canadian
The War Measures Act, which had been created for the protection and benefit of Canadian...
Some Quebecers thought that separation was the only solution. They thought that as long as Quebec was associated with the rest of Canada, French-Canadians would never be treated equal. The FLQ (Front De Libération Du Québec) was founded in 1963. It was a smaller, more forceful group of separatists. They were a collection of groups of young people whose idea was to use terrorism to
... and left the city of Regina in ruins. The workers went back in failure with none of them better off. All these events caused the society in Canada to suffer and make it into the history books as ‘great’.
The collapse of the Berlin Wall changed Western Europe as we know it today. The Iron Curtain which had split Europe had ascended and the once divided germans were reunited under one common nation. The causal factors which resulted in the fall of the Berlin Wall were internal — communism imploded upon itself—. Gorbachev attempted to reform communism through Glasnost and Perestroika, which were supposed to incorporate economic reforms and transparency, however, history illustrates that increased liberty is incompatible with communism. Dr. Schmidtke argued that structural deficiencies led along with poor economic growth which led to the collapse of communism in Europe, and consequently the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The alienation of intellectuals and the authoritative nature of communist regimes further contributed to the failure of communism in Europe. However, the collapse of the Berlin Wall would not have occurred had it not been for Gorbachev’s Glasnost, Perestroika, and the end of the Brezhnev Doctrine. Along with German official Schabowski whose actions were the catalyst for the mass exodus of persons from the GDR into West Germany. The Collapse of the Berlin Wall would not have occurred so swiftly had Gorbachev not tried to implement reforms to communism.