What do you think?
Rate this book
The Making of the October Crisis: Canada's Long Nightmare of Terrorism at the Hands of the FLQ
A definitive, mind-changing history of the October Crisis and the events leading up to it.
The first bombs exploded in Montreal in the spring of 1963, and over the next seven years there were hundreds more bombings, many bank robberies, six murders and, in October 1970, the kidnappings of a British diplomat and a Quebec cabinet minister. The perpetrators were members of the Front de libération du Québec, dedicated to establishing a sovereign and socialist Quebec. Half a century on, we should have reached some clear understanding of what led to the October Crisis. Instead, too much attention has been paid to the Crisis and not enough to the years preceding it.
Most of those who have written about the FLQ have been ardent nationalists, committed sovereigntists or former terrorists. They tell us that the authorities should have negotiated with the kidnappers and contend that Jean Drapeau's administration and the governments of Robert Bourassa and Pierre Trudeau created the October Crisis by invoking the War Measures Act. Using new research and interviews, D'Arcy Jenish tells for the first time the complete story--starting from the spring of 1963. This gripping narrative by a veteran journalist and master storyteller will change forever the way we view this dark chapter in Canadian history.
The first bombs exploded in Montreal in the spring of 1963, and over the next seven years there were hundreds more bombings, many bank robberies, six murders and, in October 1970, the kidnappings of a British diplomat and a Quebec cabinet minister. The perpetrators were members of the Front de libération du Québec, dedicated to establishing a sovereign and socialist Quebec. Half a century on, we should have reached some clear understanding of what led to the October Crisis. Instead, too much attention has been paid to the Crisis and not enough to the years preceding it.
Most of those who have written about the FLQ have been ardent nationalists, committed sovereigntists or former terrorists. They tell us that the authorities should have negotiated with the kidnappers and contend that Jean Drapeau's administration and the governments of Robert Bourassa and Pierre Trudeau created the October Crisis by invoking the War Measures Act. Using new research and interviews, D'Arcy Jenish tells for the first time the complete story--starting from the spring of 1963. This gripping narrative by a veteran journalist and master storyteller will change forever the way we view this dark chapter in Canadian history.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published September 25, 2018
21 people are currently reading
316 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
March 26, 2019
This is about the bad old days of the province of Quebec and the city of Montreal. I was growing up during that time and remember the October crisis of 1970 when British trade commissioner James Cross was kidnapped October 5th and only released on December 3rd. But he was luckier than Quebec minister Pierre Laporte who was kidnapped on October 10th and murdered a few days later. These events shocked the nation.
These terrible acts were carried out by a nationalist terrorist group called the FLQ (Front de Liberation du Quebec) who wanted an independent and communist Quebec.
What I didn’t remember were the bombings and robberies carried out by the FLQ beginning in 1963. There were hundreds of bombings, most of them in Montreal. Fortunately, only a few people were killed, due partially to the fact that many of the bombings were carried out at night. Also, many citizens alerted the police when suspicious packages were found. As the author points out the Montreal Police department developed an excellent and intrepid bomb dismantling squad.
Beginning in the mid-1960’s the FLQ started planting bombs related to strikes breaking out across the province. There was a lot of labour discord in Quebec and the FLQ hoped to attain support from this – and did. And as to be expected they got much approval from young French students who, like students anywhere, are always enamoured by “revolutionary struggles”.
As the author says the two kidnappings in 1970 signalled the end of the FLQ. The FLQ did not anticipate the strength of the governments’ (federal and provincial) reaction and their steadfastness in the face of the FLQ demands. The media too, both French and English, opposed these violent actions.
The YouTube video below is the famous interview in that period with Prime Minister Pierre Eliot Trudeau. This was after the two kidnappings (James Cross and Pierre Laporte, but before the murder of Pierre Laporte). The War Measures Act, curtailing some freedoms, had just been proclaimed and the Canadian Army sent to protect government members and other significant people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfUq9...
There were less than 100 hard-core FLQ members with maybe an additional thousand sympathizers – some of whom, for example, were willing to conceal the fleeing bombers and then kidnappers. Some were arrested in 1970, and others, who were involved in the kidnapping, and then the negotiated release of James Cross, fled to Cuba. All eventually returned to Quebec where they were put on trial. Their sentencing and subsequent parole release I found to be extremely lenient. Over the years some FLQ members have come to be lionized by nationalist oriented Quebec citizens.
After 1970 nationalism in Quebec became democratic with a political party dedicated to an independent Quebec (Parti Quebecois). There were two referendums in the province for independence - one in 1980 and another in 1995 which was very close.
What the author does not mention is the exodus of people (mostly Anglos) from Montreal. In the 1960’s Montreal and Toronto were roughly the same size in population. Now Toronto is a much larger city. Not only Toronto was a destination, but Western Canada as well. I recall meeting a woman in Calgary who told me that when a bomb went off on her Montreal street in the 1960’s that was enough, her family took the decision to move out. Many of those who left were affluent or middle class – so they, and their children, no longer contribute to the Quebec economy.
This book gives us a history of the turmoil of that era. Families were divided between Quebec and Canada over the rise of this nationalism. I feel that the FLQ were a direct result of the autocratic years of repression of Premier Maurice Duplessis who reigned as premier of Quebec from 1944 to 1959. His Union Nationale party was repressive to French Canadians holding them in bondage to the Roman Catholic Church. Quebec at that time was an isolated society, patriarchal, and large families and poverty were considered normal. All the FLQ terrorists were a product of this theocratic control. But that would be another book.
These terrible acts were carried out by a nationalist terrorist group called the FLQ (Front de Liberation du Quebec) who wanted an independent and communist Quebec.
What I didn’t remember were the bombings and robberies carried out by the FLQ beginning in 1963. There were hundreds of bombings, most of them in Montreal. Fortunately, only a few people were killed, due partially to the fact that many of the bombings were carried out at night. Also, many citizens alerted the police when suspicious packages were found. As the author points out the Montreal Police department developed an excellent and intrepid bomb dismantling squad.
Beginning in the mid-1960’s the FLQ started planting bombs related to strikes breaking out across the province. There was a lot of labour discord in Quebec and the FLQ hoped to attain support from this – and did. And as to be expected they got much approval from young French students who, like students anywhere, are always enamoured by “revolutionary struggles”.
As the author says the two kidnappings in 1970 signalled the end of the FLQ. The FLQ did not anticipate the strength of the governments’ (federal and provincial) reaction and their steadfastness in the face of the FLQ demands. The media too, both French and English, opposed these violent actions.
The YouTube video below is the famous interview in that period with Prime Minister Pierre Eliot Trudeau. This was after the two kidnappings (James Cross and Pierre Laporte, but before the murder of Pierre Laporte). The War Measures Act, curtailing some freedoms, had just been proclaimed and the Canadian Army sent to protect government members and other significant people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfUq9...
There were less than 100 hard-core FLQ members with maybe an additional thousand sympathizers – some of whom, for example, were willing to conceal the fleeing bombers and then kidnappers. Some were arrested in 1970, and others, who were involved in the kidnapping, and then the negotiated release of James Cross, fled to Cuba. All eventually returned to Quebec where they were put on trial. Their sentencing and subsequent parole release I found to be extremely lenient. Over the years some FLQ members have come to be lionized by nationalist oriented Quebec citizens.
After 1970 nationalism in Quebec became democratic with a political party dedicated to an independent Quebec (Parti Quebecois). There were two referendums in the province for independence - one in 1980 and another in 1995 which was very close.
What the author does not mention is the exodus of people (mostly Anglos) from Montreal. In the 1960’s Montreal and Toronto were roughly the same size in population. Now Toronto is a much larger city. Not only Toronto was a destination, but Western Canada as well. I recall meeting a woman in Calgary who told me that when a bomb went off on her Montreal street in the 1960’s that was enough, her family took the decision to move out. Many of those who left were affluent or middle class – so they, and their children, no longer contribute to the Quebec economy.
This book gives us a history of the turmoil of that era. Families were divided between Quebec and Canada over the rise of this nationalism. I feel that the FLQ were a direct result of the autocratic years of repression of Premier Maurice Duplessis who reigned as premier of Quebec from 1944 to 1959. His Union Nationale party was repressive to French Canadians holding them in bondage to the Roman Catholic Church. Quebec at that time was an isolated society, patriarchal, and large families and poverty were considered normal. All the FLQ terrorists were a product of this theocratic control. But that would be another book.
November 16, 2020
I didn’t realize how much of a disorganized joke the FLQ really was. Pierre Laporte was murdered for nothing. Five other lives were taken for what? So sad.
Jenish has put together a good bit of history that reads like a heart pounding narrative in many places. Well researched with a number of primary sources.
Jenish has put together a good bit of history that reads like a heart pounding narrative in many places. Well researched with a number of primary sources.
June 6, 2021
This read was long overdue. As someone from Manitoba, born in the midst of these events, my exposure and knowledge of the FLQ crisis was slight. It stands out as a seminal event for Canada, like Confederation, The Winnipeg General Strike, the World Wars, and The Oka Crisis. I knew the highlights. The kidnappings, The War Measures Act, the rise of separatism.
I saw the images these were reinforced through the years from news reports on event anniversaries. These recycle Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s famous line and include images of Cold War-era Canadian troops deployed for security. The soldiers’ long FN rifles and fatigues looked more suited for Belfast than dopey, sleepy Ottawa or once-cosmopolitan Montreal.
But the roots of this were not entirely clear to me.
What was most shocking was the number of incidents and attacks the FLQ conducted between 1963 and 1970. Author Jenish does details the bank robberies that funded the terrorist cells, the robbing of construction sites for explosives, and the brazen and numerous attacks on military armories where armaments were stolen. I kept saying to myself, ‘This is not Canada’. Then, I reminded myself, ‘It is Quebec.’
Still, I was frustrated by the government and military’s inability to secure the more than 75 armories that Quebec housed at the time (significantly less now). It seemed as they did not recognize the threat or were incompetent. As an Anglo, I did not totally react to the threat to national unity, I was appalled by the indiscriminate damage done to innocent people.
One thread that shone throughout the book was how serious and deadly all this was yet, on the other hand, so much of it comes across as juvenile, comedic and farcical.
Jenish details how Montreal depended on one trained police officer to dismantle basically all of the found bombs, we follow him around the city with limited equipment but plucky attitude. There is a FLQ cell operating in La Macaza near Mont Tremblant in the Laurentians. They run around in camouflage with hunting rifles following some vague plan to raid the local Bomarc missile base. Cottagers call the authorities and two newbie policemen from La Belle confront them. The whole thing could be a comedy had it not been for flying bullets. Things feel very 1970’s when two FLQ members escape to the U.S. and hang out with The Black Panthers.
But this was not comedy or farce. The FLQ perpetrated over 200 incidents, 160 of them were violent. They killed 8 people and injured many more. Montreal must have felt like a war zone given the number of bombs that detonated and were discovered before damage. Every time I flipped a page to read of another bombing or attack, consider just this, “Forty-six bombs were planted within Montreal or the surrounding municipalities between mid-August 1968 and the end of February 1969.” It is hard not to think of these as cowardly. The targets were shopping centres and stores, people’s homes (including the mayor of Montreal, a governor of a prison, and a 7up executive), and public mailboxes.
Here is the account of one, “The target this time was one of the symbols of English-Canadian commercial might—the grand, nine-storey T. Eaton Company department store at 677 Ste-Catherine Street West. The bombers had warned Eaton’s, as well as other retailers, to stop selling Leader bicycles, tricycles and wagons built by workers hired to replace the striking employees at Victoria Precision Works.”
This shows how petty the FLQ became, how shamefully they stooped, and how their acts continued to focus on economics and socialism rather than French identity. They became more reckless and exploded bombs while people were at work, including at the Federation of Independent Canadian Unions, Noranda Mines in the Bank of Nova Scotia building, Queen’s Printer Bookshop, and the Montreal Stock Exchange. The Exchange bombing could have been horrendous, “Fifty women had been in the gallery enjoying a guided tour, when the bomb exploded and, against all odds, escaped injury. Twenty-seven people were sent to hospital, most suffering from shock.”
The FLQ operated in cells. Yet, one does not get a sense of overall coordination. They seemed to pop up organically and separately, each professing a twist on the cause. Jenison highlights the tension within cells between members and their weird compositions. Several active members were born in other parts of the world and had only passing connection to Quebec. Most were young and caught up in an ideal. Members’ lives are detailed and many confess acting out youthful rebellion more than anything else.
In the end, “Eighty-three militants and twenty-three sympathizers had been convicted of criminal offences—bombings, bank robberies, murders and kidnappings being the most serious—and they had spent a cumulative total of 282 years behind bars. Those who had chosen exile had spent a total of 134 years in Cuba or France or Algeria. And afterward, Le Devoir’s Nathalie Petrowski wrote, they had disappeared without a trace. “How can you give body and soul, day and night to a cause—independence, Marxism, class struggle, feminism, armed struggle—how can you revolt, plant bombs, rob banks…then suddenly abandon everything?” she asked.”
The attacks culminated with the Montreal Stock Exchange bombing and the October Crisis in 1970. The latter beginning with the kidnappings of British Trade Commissioner James Cross and Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte. The latter was strangled and killed. The former, released. With these actions, support for the FLQ quickly evaporated.
But why? What gave rise to the FLQ? We wrongly see it in terms of today…increased autonomy and more language rights. Those have long been Quebec’s demands. What I learned was the movement was driven by an economic agenda, not a cultural one. Much of it was a reaction to the autocratic policies of Duplessis and the far too entwined influence of the Catholic church. Now that I live in Quebec, I have learned that the church really did a number on policy and Quebecers psyche. My local barbers, in their late 30’s, spit venom when the subject has come up.
But the catalyst was primarily economic. Jenison writes, even though under Duplessis, “Quebec and Quebeckers advanced materially, but their society remained bound to the past, and this too was Duplessis’s doing. He was a firm believer in the three pillars of the Old Quebec—ancestral traditions, the French language and Roman Catholicism—and, under his rule, “the state was an instrument not so much of progress as of preservation.”
This bit blew me away, “The populace had changed in ways that were not always apparent. Quebeckers had been able to travel outside the province more frequently. Television had given them more exposure to the world. Prosperity had raised ambitions and led to discontent. It was often said that the Quebec economy ran on foreign capital and French-Canadian muscle.” I knew the province was very insular and xenophobic given its anemic support for both World Wars, but I did not know that it actually limited travel and global education.
Nor, did I know the extent to which it felt colonialized. That economic colonialism needed to be confronted, of that I have no doubt. Especially given facts like these, “Quebeckers, urban and rural, were the poor cousins of Confederation. In an article entitled “The Bare Minimum,” Nadeau argued that the standard of living of the average Quebecker was 28 percent lower than that of Canadians in Ontario and 50 percent below the American average. Farmers were even worse off. They earned, on average, $1,550 annually or about $30 a week. To supplement their farm income, many worked in the winter as loggers for private, foreign companies.”
Jenison writes, “The founders of the FLQ had come to see Quebec as not a province but a colony, and French-speaking Quebeckers as not a minority but a colonized people, and the English not as fellow citizens but occupiers.” With some irony, the FLQ took inspiration from Algeria’s “Front de libération nationale (FLN), which in 1962 had freed Algeria from the clutches of its French imperial masters after a violent, sometimes barbarous, eight-year insurgency.” It seems strange to lift the template from a movement that was leaving France, when France was the mother of Quebec.
That is what most people do not understand. Quebec feels little affiliation to France. While working for a global company, a colleague of mine from France vacationed in Quebec with his family. This was about 2010. They toured southern rural communities by bike and other means. He expressed that he was subjected to some disdain and noted that the rural language or dialects seemed frozen from centuries ago.
While reading this book, I spoke to Francophone friends to gain perspective. One told the story of his father not being allowed to leave the province in the 1950’s to find work in America. He was literally turned away at the border by Canadian/Quebec authorities. The Duplessis era was not only paternal, it was limiting and had autocratic undertones.
Jenish hints at how simple much of Quebec was at the time of The Quiet Revolution in the early 60’s. A survey from Maclean’s/CBC poll in 1964, “revealed that 43 percent of Quebeckers wanted to remain in Canada. Twenty-three percent were undecided. Twenty-one percent knew nothing about the issue, while 13 percent supported independence, and that small separatist minority was splintered and unstable.” That 21% was more interested in their home and hamlet than provincial and national politics. Much of Quebec was provincial, if you get my meaning.
Rene Lévesque helped change that in an almost condescending way, “the television host connected viscerally with Quebeckers. He used simple language as well as maps, a blackboard and a pointer to explain the complex world beyond their borders.” Jenison writes, “Having been held back and down for so long, and denied opportunity in the federal government as well as the Anglo-dominated business world, they now asserted themselves not as French Canadians but as Québécois”.
Once the economic disparities were mostly balanced and the FLQ’s terrorism strategy discarded, Quebec’s grievances shifted to culture and language. And their threats to unity pop out with regularity. A famous newspaper cartoon depicted it as a bogeyman jumping from the closet every few years.
The book is well written and takes you right down to street level. It is hard not to empathize with the innocent people caught in the melee. Consider this one attack on the ironically named LaGrenade Shoe Company. Its 65 employees were on strike and the FLQ sought to make a statement. Many in the FLQ were militant Socialists, their fight was not for capitalistic freedom but Communist egalitarianism.
Here is Jenison’s sympathetic but descriptive account of the company’s bombing, “A few minutes later, a powerful explosion occurred. Three people were seriously injured: André LaGrenade, age fifty-seven; Henri B. LaGrenade Jr., the fifty-one-year-old vice-president of the company and the recipient of the package; and Mrs. Viateur Sirois, an employee, who was twenty-three and eight months pregnant and was blinded by the blast. Thérèse Morin, who had returned a few minutes early from lunch, died instantly. She was sixty-four and was Henri LaGrenade’s secretary, and had worked for the company for forty years. “Her battered body was found in the middle of the office,” the next day’s Gazette reported, “among twisted steel filing cabinets, shattered typewriters and fallen plaster.”
That was the reality. FLQ members later stated their actions were to speed up change. Change that was under way and could have been realized without the terror and carnage. Arguably, the FLQ’s impact and PQ’s rise destabilized the economy for decades. The Liberals finally balanced the budget in 2017 but was still voted out in favour of a centre-right party, the CAQ. This reveals, once again, that once Quebec benefits economically, demands move to identity.
I need to read more. I need to chat with more people. But I expect my disdain for the FLQ’s actions will remain. Thanks to the author for a highly readable history.
Here are some final tidbits…
In just one raid on military armories, the FLQ stole 59 Belgian FN semi-automatic rifles, 30 9-millimetre Sten machine guns, 4 .303-calibre Bren machine guns, 4 field mortars, 4 bazookas, 2 Browning machine guns, 11 walkie talkies, and over 15,000 rounds of ammunition. Many of these weapons were never recovered.
I have read a lot of history and am familiar with Charles de Gualle. By any report, the man was an opportunist. To be blunt, a real turd. His conduct within the Allied forces during World War Two was embarrassing. He was all about PR and short on substance, a man for the current social media age. His suppression of Algerian separatists is hypocritical and ruthless. He was a performer and that he did when he visited Quebec and spouted his (in)famous line. This was a slap to English Canada who had fought for his country. On that, I will not budge. He was a massive egotistical turd.
Lastly, I believe it important to humanize these events. The author tells the tale of Sergeant-Major Walter Leja. He “was a forty-two-year-old Polish immigrant who had grown up in Pointe-Saint-Charles. He had served in World War II and afterward had remained in the armed forces. His physical prowess had earned him the nickname Rocky.”
Leja was wounded while disarming an FLQ bomb, he “remained unconscious for over three weeks and was permanently disabled. The right side of his body was paralyzed and he could not hear or speak. La Presse reported on July 16, 1965, that Leja had been moved to the veteran’s hospital in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, a suburb at the far west end of the island, after a two-year stay at St. Mary’s Hospital. He spent the better part of three decades at the veteran’s hospital and died there in 1993.”
I saw the images these were reinforced through the years from news reports on event anniversaries. These recycle Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s famous line and include images of Cold War-era Canadian troops deployed for security. The soldiers’ long FN rifles and fatigues looked more suited for Belfast than dopey, sleepy Ottawa or once-cosmopolitan Montreal.
But the roots of this were not entirely clear to me.
What was most shocking was the number of incidents and attacks the FLQ conducted between 1963 and 1970. Author Jenish does details the bank robberies that funded the terrorist cells, the robbing of construction sites for explosives, and the brazen and numerous attacks on military armories where armaments were stolen. I kept saying to myself, ‘This is not Canada’. Then, I reminded myself, ‘It is Quebec.’
Still, I was frustrated by the government and military’s inability to secure the more than 75 armories that Quebec housed at the time (significantly less now). It seemed as they did not recognize the threat or were incompetent. As an Anglo, I did not totally react to the threat to national unity, I was appalled by the indiscriminate damage done to innocent people.
One thread that shone throughout the book was how serious and deadly all this was yet, on the other hand, so much of it comes across as juvenile, comedic and farcical.
Jenish details how Montreal depended on one trained police officer to dismantle basically all of the found bombs, we follow him around the city with limited equipment but plucky attitude. There is a FLQ cell operating in La Macaza near Mont Tremblant in the Laurentians. They run around in camouflage with hunting rifles following some vague plan to raid the local Bomarc missile base. Cottagers call the authorities and two newbie policemen from La Belle confront them. The whole thing could be a comedy had it not been for flying bullets. Things feel very 1970’s when two FLQ members escape to the U.S. and hang out with The Black Panthers.
But this was not comedy or farce. The FLQ perpetrated over 200 incidents, 160 of them were violent. They killed 8 people and injured many more. Montreal must have felt like a war zone given the number of bombs that detonated and were discovered before damage. Every time I flipped a page to read of another bombing or attack, consider just this, “Forty-six bombs were planted within Montreal or the surrounding municipalities between mid-August 1968 and the end of February 1969.” It is hard not to think of these as cowardly. The targets were shopping centres and stores, people’s homes (including the mayor of Montreal, a governor of a prison, and a 7up executive), and public mailboxes.
Here is the account of one, “The target this time was one of the symbols of English-Canadian commercial might—the grand, nine-storey T. Eaton Company department store at 677 Ste-Catherine Street West. The bombers had warned Eaton’s, as well as other retailers, to stop selling Leader bicycles, tricycles and wagons built by workers hired to replace the striking employees at Victoria Precision Works.”
This shows how petty the FLQ became, how shamefully they stooped, and how their acts continued to focus on economics and socialism rather than French identity. They became more reckless and exploded bombs while people were at work, including at the Federation of Independent Canadian Unions, Noranda Mines in the Bank of Nova Scotia building, Queen’s Printer Bookshop, and the Montreal Stock Exchange. The Exchange bombing could have been horrendous, “Fifty women had been in the gallery enjoying a guided tour, when the bomb exploded and, against all odds, escaped injury. Twenty-seven people were sent to hospital, most suffering from shock.”
The FLQ operated in cells. Yet, one does not get a sense of overall coordination. They seemed to pop up organically and separately, each professing a twist on the cause. Jenison highlights the tension within cells between members and their weird compositions. Several active members were born in other parts of the world and had only passing connection to Quebec. Most were young and caught up in an ideal. Members’ lives are detailed and many confess acting out youthful rebellion more than anything else.
In the end, “Eighty-three militants and twenty-three sympathizers had been convicted of criminal offences—bombings, bank robberies, murders and kidnappings being the most serious—and they had spent a cumulative total of 282 years behind bars. Those who had chosen exile had spent a total of 134 years in Cuba or France or Algeria. And afterward, Le Devoir’s Nathalie Petrowski wrote, they had disappeared without a trace. “How can you give body and soul, day and night to a cause—independence, Marxism, class struggle, feminism, armed struggle—how can you revolt, plant bombs, rob banks…then suddenly abandon everything?” she asked.”
The attacks culminated with the Montreal Stock Exchange bombing and the October Crisis in 1970. The latter beginning with the kidnappings of British Trade Commissioner James Cross and Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte. The latter was strangled and killed. The former, released. With these actions, support for the FLQ quickly evaporated.
But why? What gave rise to the FLQ? We wrongly see it in terms of today…increased autonomy and more language rights. Those have long been Quebec’s demands. What I learned was the movement was driven by an economic agenda, not a cultural one. Much of it was a reaction to the autocratic policies of Duplessis and the far too entwined influence of the Catholic church. Now that I live in Quebec, I have learned that the church really did a number on policy and Quebecers psyche. My local barbers, in their late 30’s, spit venom when the subject has come up.
But the catalyst was primarily economic. Jenison writes, even though under Duplessis, “Quebec and Quebeckers advanced materially, but their society remained bound to the past, and this too was Duplessis’s doing. He was a firm believer in the three pillars of the Old Quebec—ancestral traditions, the French language and Roman Catholicism—and, under his rule, “the state was an instrument not so much of progress as of preservation.”
This bit blew me away, “The populace had changed in ways that were not always apparent. Quebeckers had been able to travel outside the province more frequently. Television had given them more exposure to the world. Prosperity had raised ambitions and led to discontent. It was often said that the Quebec economy ran on foreign capital and French-Canadian muscle.” I knew the province was very insular and xenophobic given its anemic support for both World Wars, but I did not know that it actually limited travel and global education.
Nor, did I know the extent to which it felt colonialized. That economic colonialism needed to be confronted, of that I have no doubt. Especially given facts like these, “Quebeckers, urban and rural, were the poor cousins of Confederation. In an article entitled “The Bare Minimum,” Nadeau argued that the standard of living of the average Quebecker was 28 percent lower than that of Canadians in Ontario and 50 percent below the American average. Farmers were even worse off. They earned, on average, $1,550 annually or about $30 a week. To supplement their farm income, many worked in the winter as loggers for private, foreign companies.”
Jenison writes, “The founders of the FLQ had come to see Quebec as not a province but a colony, and French-speaking Quebeckers as not a minority but a colonized people, and the English not as fellow citizens but occupiers.” With some irony, the FLQ took inspiration from Algeria’s “Front de libération nationale (FLN), which in 1962 had freed Algeria from the clutches of its French imperial masters after a violent, sometimes barbarous, eight-year insurgency.” It seems strange to lift the template from a movement that was leaving France, when France was the mother of Quebec.
That is what most people do not understand. Quebec feels little affiliation to France. While working for a global company, a colleague of mine from France vacationed in Quebec with his family. This was about 2010. They toured southern rural communities by bike and other means. He expressed that he was subjected to some disdain and noted that the rural language or dialects seemed frozen from centuries ago.
While reading this book, I spoke to Francophone friends to gain perspective. One told the story of his father not being allowed to leave the province in the 1950’s to find work in America. He was literally turned away at the border by Canadian/Quebec authorities. The Duplessis era was not only paternal, it was limiting and had autocratic undertones.
Jenish hints at how simple much of Quebec was at the time of The Quiet Revolution in the early 60’s. A survey from Maclean’s/CBC poll in 1964, “revealed that 43 percent of Quebeckers wanted to remain in Canada. Twenty-three percent were undecided. Twenty-one percent knew nothing about the issue, while 13 percent supported independence, and that small separatist minority was splintered and unstable.” That 21% was more interested in their home and hamlet than provincial and national politics. Much of Quebec was provincial, if you get my meaning.
Rene Lévesque helped change that in an almost condescending way, “the television host connected viscerally with Quebeckers. He used simple language as well as maps, a blackboard and a pointer to explain the complex world beyond their borders.” Jenison writes, “Having been held back and down for so long, and denied opportunity in the federal government as well as the Anglo-dominated business world, they now asserted themselves not as French Canadians but as Québécois”.
Once the economic disparities were mostly balanced and the FLQ’s terrorism strategy discarded, Quebec’s grievances shifted to culture and language. And their threats to unity pop out with regularity. A famous newspaper cartoon depicted it as a bogeyman jumping from the closet every few years.
The book is well written and takes you right down to street level. It is hard not to empathize with the innocent people caught in the melee. Consider this one attack on the ironically named LaGrenade Shoe Company. Its 65 employees were on strike and the FLQ sought to make a statement. Many in the FLQ were militant Socialists, their fight was not for capitalistic freedom but Communist egalitarianism.
Here is Jenison’s sympathetic but descriptive account of the company’s bombing, “A few minutes later, a powerful explosion occurred. Three people were seriously injured: André LaGrenade, age fifty-seven; Henri B. LaGrenade Jr., the fifty-one-year-old vice-president of the company and the recipient of the package; and Mrs. Viateur Sirois, an employee, who was twenty-three and eight months pregnant and was blinded by the blast. Thérèse Morin, who had returned a few minutes early from lunch, died instantly. She was sixty-four and was Henri LaGrenade’s secretary, and had worked for the company for forty years. “Her battered body was found in the middle of the office,” the next day’s Gazette reported, “among twisted steel filing cabinets, shattered typewriters and fallen plaster.”
That was the reality. FLQ members later stated their actions were to speed up change. Change that was under way and could have been realized without the terror and carnage. Arguably, the FLQ’s impact and PQ’s rise destabilized the economy for decades. The Liberals finally balanced the budget in 2017 but was still voted out in favour of a centre-right party, the CAQ. This reveals, once again, that once Quebec benefits economically, demands move to identity.
I need to read more. I need to chat with more people. But I expect my disdain for the FLQ’s actions will remain. Thanks to the author for a highly readable history.
Here are some final tidbits…
In just one raid on military armories, the FLQ stole 59 Belgian FN semi-automatic rifles, 30 9-millimetre Sten machine guns, 4 .303-calibre Bren machine guns, 4 field mortars, 4 bazookas, 2 Browning machine guns, 11 walkie talkies, and over 15,000 rounds of ammunition. Many of these weapons were never recovered.
I have read a lot of history and am familiar with Charles de Gualle. By any report, the man was an opportunist. To be blunt, a real turd. His conduct within the Allied forces during World War Two was embarrassing. He was all about PR and short on substance, a man for the current social media age. His suppression of Algerian separatists is hypocritical and ruthless. He was a performer and that he did when he visited Quebec and spouted his (in)famous line. This was a slap to English Canada who had fought for his country. On that, I will not budge. He was a massive egotistical turd.
Lastly, I believe it important to humanize these events. The author tells the tale of Sergeant-Major Walter Leja. He “was a forty-two-year-old Polish immigrant who had grown up in Pointe-Saint-Charles. He had served in World War II and afterward had remained in the armed forces. His physical prowess had earned him the nickname Rocky.”
Leja was wounded while disarming an FLQ bomb, he “remained unconscious for over three weeks and was permanently disabled. The right side of his body was paralyzed and he could not hear or speak. La Presse reported on July 16, 1965, that Leja had been moved to the veteran’s hospital in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, a suburb at the far west end of the island, after a two-year stay at St. Mary’s Hospital. He spent the better part of three decades at the veteran’s hospital and died there in 1993.”
December 22, 2018
I really enjoyed Jenish's book on the NHL and decided to give this one a try as I grew up in Montreal and was seven years old when all this happened. This is an excellent narrative not only of the two months in 1970 when the kidnappings occurred, but it goes back to 1963 and the beginning of terrorist activity in Montreal. And what makes this book stand out from other books on the subject is that he is not afraid to use the word terrorist. Many books have glamorized the bombers and kidnappers, many of whom were paroled and continued their radical politics. Jenish manages to avoid this and if anything attempts to put the victims front and center, a discussion that is often avoided, while presenting the narrative in an objective fashion. This is an important addition to the telling of Quebec and Canadian history. Very interesting and very well told. Highly recommended.
September 23, 2024
I wanted to read this book to get a better understanding of the historical, social, and political context of the city I’ve moved to. Beyond providing some really critical background into what Montréal went through in the 60s and 70s, it’s also just a riveting book. It does a very good job of covering a lot of angles, particularly those of the FLQ themselves (helpfully, it seems most of them have written memoirs), as well as of the the chief bomb defuser.
It is a page-turner, but it is not light on detail. It strikes a very good balance of never getting too much into the weeds or delving into dry mechanical details, but also never getting too wrapped up in a narrative arc or preferring one perspective over others.
One thing that is perhaps missing, is that you don't get much perspective from people that weren't directly involved. What was like for ordinary anglophones, francophones, and others in the area? Some indications of this would have been welcome, both in terms of anecdote and data, because you are left reading between the lines on this a bit, from the couple bits of polling data, or the sorts of numbers that showed up to a given rally, etc.
It is a page-turner, but it is not light on detail. It strikes a very good balance of never getting too much into the weeds or delving into dry mechanical details, but also never getting too wrapped up in a narrative arc or preferring one perspective over others.
One thing that is perhaps missing, is that you don't get much perspective from people that weren't directly involved. What was like for ordinary anglophones, francophones, and others in the area? Some indications of this would have been welcome, both in terms of anecdote and data, because you are left reading between the lines on this a bit, from the couple bits of polling data, or the sorts of numbers that showed up to a given rally, etc.
July 30, 2022
This book was interesting as there was more to the October crisis than I realized. My parents lived through it, though they were not stationed in Quebec at the time and told me bits and pieces of it. So it was disturbing to learn that the violence had gone on for so many years prior to the kidnappings.
I found this book more satisfying at the end, when the terrorists were getting their come-uppance, than at the beginning when they are running amok. That was probably because I had little sympathy for them whatsoever. They struck me as a pack of bullies trying to prove they were tough by setting off bombs. Thank goodness they were such poor bomb makers that most of them didn't go off. But the idea that Quebec needed to be free from Canada was just an excuse to blow things up, not a true motive. Especially as they tried to justify the deaths they caused without feeling any regard for people killed just trying to live their lives.
I knew that they killed Pierre Laporte, but I didn't realize how bad it was for him in the end. A truly sad ending for someone who did not deserve it. I am glad none of the primary movers in the FLQ did not end their lives happy or successful. Karma will get you in the end.
I found this book more satisfying at the end, when the terrorists were getting their come-uppance, than at the beginning when they are running amok. That was probably because I had little sympathy for them whatsoever. They struck me as a pack of bullies trying to prove they were tough by setting off bombs. Thank goodness they were such poor bomb makers that most of them didn't go off. But the idea that Quebec needed to be free from Canada was just an excuse to blow things up, not a true motive. Especially as they tried to justify the deaths they caused without feeling any regard for people killed just trying to live their lives.
I knew that they killed Pierre Laporte, but I didn't realize how bad it was for him in the end. A truly sad ending for someone who did not deserve it. I am glad none of the primary movers in the FLQ did not end their lives happy or successful. Karma will get you in the end.
August 22, 2025
Learned a lot about a part of North American history I didn’t know anything about. The attempt to make this a comprehensive history did mean the beginning dragged as it went over every single bombing, every bomber and so on. If it had focused on the 1970 crisis with just a few chapters as background, it would have been more effective. Also, it needed a map in the appendix- too many Montreal landmarks were mentioned with little context.
October 29, 2020
"The Making of the October Crisis" was thorough, well-written and fast paced. As well as providing a play by play record of events, starting with the circumstances contributing to the "birth" of the FLQ, Jenish tells the story of the participants from the police bomb expert risking his life to find and defuse FLQ bombs to the victims of those bombs; from the felquistes to their kidnap and murder victims. Without condoning their actions, Jenish portrays the felquistes with compassion and depth, giving the reader insight into their individual motivations, relationships and how the consequences of their actions played out in their lives. I hope that all Canadians read this book. The October Crisis, while not something to celebrate, needs to be remembered - an excellent choice for students of Canadian history.
October 19, 2023
Really loved getting to dive deep into an era of Canadian history I knew of but only just the surface. My parents' generation grew up in Montreal in the 60s and 70s, so I can't wait to discuss these events with them. The writing was good but I've yet to find a non-fiction book with writing that floors me. I guess that's not what history books are really made for necessarily but a boy can dream. I was happy to come across this at the Victoria College book sale (aka my happy place).
October 1, 2020
i honestly cannot rate a book /that/ biased higher than a one star. did the flq commit horrible and unforgivable actions? yes, /definitely/. but this is not a book written to shed light on the events on the october crisis; it’s a book that does nothing but show a profound bitterness. this is way too one-sided, and therefore means nothing for anyone looking for facts or anything useful.
April 25, 2020
I picked up this book because I wanted to understand more about the FLQ and October Crisis. In that respect, I learned many new facts about both. However, I still don't think I really understand why the FLQ came to be. However, perhaps that's not entirely knowable.
I was amazed to learn how long bombings went on in Quebec and how many there were. It was also interesting to see that this was mostly disaffected youth that performed these actions, which makes me think it was less about politics and more about youth adrift that latched on to an ideology.
I found the first half of the book talking about the bombings to feel more like a listing of facts than a cohesive narrative. I found this part difficult to get through. The second half that covered the abductions, exile of the kidnappers and the kidnapper's eventual return had great flow.
I was amazed to learn how long bombings went on in Quebec and how many there were. It was also interesting to see that this was mostly disaffected youth that performed these actions, which makes me think it was less about politics and more about youth adrift that latched on to an ideology.
I found the first half of the book talking about the bombings to feel more like a listing of facts than a cohesive narrative. I found this part difficult to get through. The second half that covered the abductions, exile of the kidnappers and the kidnapper's eventual return had great flow.
November 17, 2018
A thorough overview of the FLQ, related groups, and their history. Went back and forth between 3 and 4 stars but settled on the higher rating on account of the superb final section on the October Crisis. While the earlier parts often feel rushed and largely to be a surface level explanation of bombings and conflicts, the actors and events of the October Crisis are covered in great detail, and are written in a quite compelling manner. Overall this is a very good book about a critical chapter in history.
May 5, 2019
Since I knew so little about this subject, I appreciate having read this book. I can barely get over how long Quebec endured so much terrorism on a practically daily basis: bombings, suspicious packages with bombs in them, and bank robberies. The book was a bit dry in that almost every terrorist act for years was laid out, but it did hammer home the incredible extent of the terrorism gripping Quebec at the time.
June 5, 2025
Growing up the FLQ was only briefly touched on in social class, and growing up the thought of large scale bombings and kidnappings seems entirely foreign in Canada. Sure we've had terrorist incidents but nothing systematic like the flq crisis.
I really enjoyed this book and learning more about it. The thing that struck me the most is why everyone was so lax about securing dynamite. That seems like the sort of thing you'd worry about.
Book bingo 2025: book club pick
I really enjoyed this book and learning more about it. The thing that struck me the most is why everyone was so lax about securing dynamite. That seems like the sort of thing you'd worry about.
Book bingo 2025: book club pick
August 25, 2019
Great overview of the October Crisis - put in the appropriate context. I've studied the October Crisis before but I felt this book was able to really nail down the people and events in the context of the time and culture. There's a lot of nuance to this situation and the author was able to lay a lot of the framework out without beating the reader over the head with conclusions.
June 20, 2020
I had only ever heard about the murder of Pierre Laporte, so I decided to read this for the full story. I have no idea how I’ve never learned about the bombings, robberies, kidnappings, and murders, let alone that it lasted for 8 years. People think Canada is a utopia, but this book about fairly recent terrorism in Quebec is a massive eye-opener.
April 21, 2024
THIS WAS SO FUCKING GOOD. However I did notice two instances of bias by the author but it can be overlooked. I need so many more books on this period of Canadian history; however the Indigo employee told me, flatly, that they lack books on MOST periods of Canadian history, which. Well. She's right, unfortunately.
July 21, 2020
Bombings felt as if they were being listed rather than being stringed together as an overarching story. Other than that, good book. Interesting to see the profile of the perpetrators, and what became of them.
January 2, 2019
This is a good solid read that gives considerable insights into what happened in the years up to and after the October Crisis. Some things still are a mystery and will probably remain so.
July 15, 2019
Very well written and very insightful!
December 9, 2019
Excellent review of the events that occurred during the October Crisis.
December 6, 2020
Funniest book I have read
May 4, 2021
Highly readable, intimately researched, well organized. Reads like a suspense novel. Superb.
September 8, 2024
Well worth the read
May 10, 2025
3.5⭐️
Read
February 9, 2019A look back at the full record of the FLQ the revolutionary group that fought for Quebec liberation through bombings and kidnappings in the 1960s. I was surprised to learn just how extensive that record was. The bombings started in 1963 and continued for six years. Each of the bombings is covered which becomes a bit tedious I think a fuller history of anti-English radicalism would have been more valuable. Still insights are uncovered. Twice the FLQ appeared to have flamed out and came back to life first due to Charles DeGaulle's intemperate speech at Montreal's City Hall in 1967 and again after the St. Jean Baptiste Day riot in 1968 when the FLQ made claims of police brutality that are still iffy. The James Cross and Pierre Laporte kidnappings are recounted in all their grisly confusion. It's startling how profoundly the FLQ effected Canada considering the shambolic nature of the organization. They were very similar to the contemporaneous Symbionese Liberation Army in the US in this respect.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews