|
Pierre Elliott Trudeau 1919-2000
Pierre Elliott Trudeau was born, and
died, in Montreal, Canada.
He was Canada's prime minister from 1968
to 1979, and again from 1980 to 1984.
TRUDEAU AND THE
OCTOBER CRISIS
On October 5, 1970, members of the FLQ, which stands for Front de
Libération du Québec, had abducted James (Jasper) Cross, a
British diplomat. On October 10, 1970, the FLQ also kidnapped Pierre
Laporte, a Canadian politician.
Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau was
ready to declare martial law. He did this by using the Canadian War
Measures Act from 1914, which confers emergency powers to the
federal powers in the event of a serious crisis.
Only twice had the War Measures Act been
exercised, when during World War One as well as World War Two
Canadians of German, Ukrainian, and Slavic decent, and Japanese
Canadians were imprisoned and their property confiscated.
Back to 1970.
Here is Trudeau's speech on
The War
Measures Act, which was nationally broadcast on October 16, 1970.
As Trudeau explains in his speech,
"The War Measures Act gives sweeping
powers to the government. It also suspends the operation of the
Canadian Bill of Rights."
Laporte was killed on October 17, 1970.
Cross was released on December 3, 1970.
And here is the
Timeline of the October Crisis, provided by the Marianopolis
College.
More History
|
