The Liberation Cell was a
Montreal-based cell that was part of
Front de libération du Québec
The (FLQ) was a Marxist–Leninist and Quebec separatist guerrilla group. Founded in the early 1960s with the aim of establishing an independent and socialist Quebec through violent means, the FLQ was considered a terrorist group by the Canadia ...
(FLQ) revolutionary movement in
Quebec whose members were responsible for a decade of bombings and armed robberies in the 1960s that led to what became known as the
October Crisis.
CanadaHistory.com: FLQ
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As part of a violent attempt to overthrow the elected government and to establish a socialist Quebec state independent of Canada, on October 5, 1970, the members of the Liberation Cell kidnapped the United Kingdom Trade Commissioner James Richard Cross
James Richard Cross (29 September 1921 – 6 January 2021) was an Irish-born British diplomat who served in India, Malaysia and Canada. While posted in Canada, Cross was kidnapped by members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) during ...
from his Montreal home. The kidnappers posed as deliverymen and tricked the house maid into letting them in, after which they pulled out their guns and seized Cross. Five days later, members of the FLQ's Chénier Cell kidnapped and then murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...
ed the Deputy Premier of Quebec and Labour Minister, Pierre Laporte. Believing many others would follow in an uprising, the goal of the FLQ was to create an independent state based on the ideals of Fidel Castro's Cuba.
After holding the British Trade Commissioner for more than sixty days, the known members of the Liberation Cell negotiated his release in exchange for their safe passage to Cuba. Four weeks later, the known members of the Chénier Cell were located in a country farmhouse basement.
The known Liberation Cell members:
* Jacques Cossette-Trudel
* Louise Lanctôt (Louise Cossette-Trudel)
* Jacques Lanctôt
*Marc Carbonneau Marc Carbonneau (born 29 May 1933) was a member of the Liberation Cell of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ).
Carbonneau, a taxi driver by profession, was active in left-wing groups in the 1950s and joined the FLQ 15 years later. On 7 Octob ...
* Yves Langlois (aka Pierre Seguin)
* Nigel Barry Hamer
See also
* History of Quebec
References
{{October Crisis
October Crisis