War Measures Act Essay

The Front de Libération du Québec, better known as the FLQ, is one of the most important movements that have existed in Canada. Their motif was for Quebec to gain independence, to do this, they orchestrated several bombings and robberies in the 1960s, eventually leading up to the October Crisis in the late months of 1970. The kidnapping of James Cross and Pierre Laporte lead to the enactment of the War Measures Act. The ways the War Measures Act affected Canadians was drastic, though Pierre Trudeau did have justified reasoning for doing so. Once the October Crisis was over, major terrorist attacks ceased in Canada.

FLQ was founded in March of 1963 by Raymond Villeneuve, Gabriel Hudon, and Georges Schoeters. Two years later (1965), Pierre Vallières joined, he is known to have created the philosophy behind FLQ. The FLQ is based off the acts of the patriots. For, example, they use the patriot colors for their flag, green, white, and red.

The movement was inspired by a few other movements in other counties. For example, the Algerian Revolutionaries from the Algerian war which ended in the separation of Algeria and France in 1962, an Algerian general even supported the FLQ’s actions, and exclaimed publicly “Vive le Québec! Vive le Québec libre!” They were also inspired by Che Guevara, a figure very important in the Cuban Revolution. …show more content…
Enacting the War Measures Act, to this day, still influences the way the federal government analyses situations. It demonstrates the kind of pressure and responsibilities the federal government has in order to keep Canadians safe. Trudeau had many different options to decide from, and the federal government concluded that enacting the War Measures Act would have the most positive results.This demonstrated his leadership was open to different view and opinions. Enacting the War Measures Act did calm the situation, so Trudeau’s decision was