It is acting to make clear to kidnappers, revolutionaries and assassins that in this country laws are made and changed by the elected representatives of all Canadians -not by a handful of self-selected dictators. Those who gain power through terror rule through terror. The government is acting, therefore, to protect your life and your liberty” (Belanger). This statement, made by Pierre Elliot Trudeau, was a televised statement justifying the Prime Minister’s decision to declare the War Measures Act during the October Crisis of 1970. The October Crisis of 1970 was a civil war between the Canadian government and a separatist group, Le Front de Libération du Québec, otherwise known as the FLQ. The crisis consisted of a series of events sparked
