Kidnapping, Murder, Unrest: Quebec's 1970 October Crisis Explained
By Marina Manoukian/March 16, 2021 1:46 am EDT
In the 1960s, members of the Québécois separatist movement started a bombing campaign against the Canadian government. In 1970, this standoff escalated to a hostage situation. Overnight, people in Québec found themselves essentially living under martial law.
The October Crisis gripped the nation as a British diplomat and Québec's Minister of Labour and Immigration were kidnapped and held by the Front de libération du Québec. In response, soldiers and tanks rolled through the streets of Montreal while helicopters flew overhead.
Thousands of homes were raided by the authorities and hundreds were arrested, but these actions did little to impede the crisis. Despite being called the October Crisis, the hostage situation lasted until November, and it wasn't until the end of December that most of the kidnappers were apprehended. And in the end, although all of the perpetrators of the hostage crisis were eventually captured, only one of the hostages ended up making it out alive. Kidnapping, murder, unrest: this is Quebec's 1970 October Crisis explained.