The FLQ - A tough one to post

I have thought about this one for a long time. A really long time.

I hate everything sure, but there are a few things that fill me with rage. I mean fucking blind rage. You rarely lose that kind of hate and emotion. If you’re lucky you forget about it, but inevitably something sets it off again and it comes back full bore because real hate and rage you never really lose.

One of those things for me is the FLQ. I encourage Americans and Brits to look up this terrorist group.

Before I go ranting here are some loosely related facts about where my rage for the FLQ comes from.

My parents were weird fucking people. They were British immigrants to Canada who thought it would be a good idea in the early 1970's to pick up and leave England (and its poverty) for the sunny welcoming shores of Quebec....

Yes, Two English people (pregnant wife) decided that they should move to Quebec in the early 1970's. So as the future baby in that story, (I was sadly not born in the UK I missed it by 3 and a half months) I was born in Quebec, an Anglophone at a lonely time for Anglophones in a Province coming to grips with self destiny.

How lonely was it? Well apart from the usual refusal to allow children to be taught the English language (without crazy criteria) I happen to be born into a Roman Catholic family at a time (In my particular area) when English children were no allowed be baptised in churches. Whether or not this was a hard fast rule is unknown to me. What I do know is that services were refused at the local church and instead the service was provided to my parents and others in the same boat, in a movie theatre on a Saturday morning by a travelling Anglophone Priest. You want to feel unwelcome? Well welcome to Canada!

While I am not mad at one particular thing in this situation it speaks volumes as to my current feelings about Quebec (the greatest province in Canada) and how she keeps fucking herself in the ass.

What does this have to do with the FLQ?

Well like I said the rage I feel for this issue needed a spark, a spark I had today. My wife and I discussed teach my son about the world (culture, arts, history, politics etc.). Let's just say, while I heard my wife I became convinced that ignorance to many of the points above would be to his benefit. The reason I am as angry as I am, is due in large part to what I know and the opinions I have formed about that knowledge since. I personally think it is better if he never learns to hate the way I did and what my wife generally forgets is that key Canadian history is kept out of the general education of Quebec children (she was born, raised and educated in Sherbrooke QC), specifically the crimes of the FLQ. I, on the other hand, can never forget that she was not taught this in school, though I don't bring it up in general conversations about child rearing. So I believe I am right and will spare my boy the venom.

SOOOOO in biting my tongue on the education future of my boy I was reminded of the FLQ...so that is how I got to the FLQ tonight.

A second “before I start” - I am angry because I know things. Things I choose to know, and like everyone else in the world, I am not impartial. See above. I am an Anglo Quebecer by birth, so save me your fucking see both sides fucking story. Before you start defending the FLQ or Quebec to me:
*Remember I love the place
*Remember that I was an unrecognized minority in that province and still angry about it
*Remember that in the 1970's when the precious FLQ fought for socialist and communist rights for Quebec's citizens against the English establishment the province did not allow women to own property.

Forget everything about my personal history and my feelings about what I know and my interpretation of events and remember you are defending people who fought for something as stupid as language when woman were still treated like property.

Related to this last point and a second personal point about me, my family and Quebec in the 1970's. I grew up poor because my father owned our house in Quebec, paid for with my mothers money, a house my father lost because he was an idiot, and money my mother lost because of the election of the PQ. If it was my mothers house, or jointly owned, maybe my childhood works out a little richer, to be shallow. So my love of Quebec is tempered by a deep hatred of the fucking place. Daddy issues be damned, that province was setup to let it happen.

Back to the fucking FLQ

Look up the FLQ if you want background. Look up the quiet revolution and the October crisis and all the bullshit that followed. Then take what comes below and temper that knowledge with Canada's current efforts in Afganistan in the "War on Terror".

The following murders:

Jacques Rose – Kidnapped and murdered a provincial cabinet minister. Served 7 years in prison.
Bernard Lortie - Kidnapped and murdered a provincial cabinet minister. Served 7 years in prison.
Francis Simard - Kidnapped and murdered a provincial cabinet minister. Served 7 years in prison.
Paul Rose - Kidnapped and murdered a provincial cabinet minister. Served 7 years in prison.
Rhéal Mathieu – Murdered a female factory worker with a letter bomb and believed to have been responsible for the deaths of 2 other people with bombs. Served 7 years in prison.
Gabriel Hudon – Murdered a nightwatchmen at a government defense facility with a bomb.
Raymond Villeneuve – Murdered a nightwatchmen at a government defense facility with a bomb.
Simple kidnappers (but given this was a joint plot and conspiracy they are also arguably guilty of murder as accomplices)
Jacques Cossette-Trudel – Kidnapped and held hostage a representative of a foreign country.
Louise Lanctôt (aka Louise Cossette-Trudel) – Kidnapped and held hostage a representative of a foreign country.
Jacques Lanctôt – Kidnapped and held hostage a representative of a foreign country.
Marc Carbonneau ­­­­­– Kidnapped and held hostage a representative of a foreign country.
Yves Langlois (aka Pierre Seguin) – Kidnapped and held hostage a representative of a foreign country.
Nigel Barry Hamer – Kidnapped and held hostage a representative of a foreign country.
Others commonly listed as “Members of the FLQ” and could be legitimately be considered involved in over 200 bombings, and a series of armed robberies, including the bombing of the Mayor of Montreal’s house and an attack on the Montreal Stock Exchange that wounded 27 people.

Alain Allard, Mario Bachand, Richard Bizier, Mario Bouchard, Pierre Boucher, Pierre Charette, Robert Comeau, Cyriaque Delisle, Pierre Demers, Serge Demers, Marcel Faulkner, Marc-André Gagné, Charles Gagnon, François Gagnon, Pierre-Paul Geoffroy, Jacques Giroux, Edmond Guénette, Gabriel Hudon, Robert Hudon, Yves Labonté, Gérard Laquerre, Michel Lambert, Daniel Lamoureux, Denis Lamoureux, François Lanctôt, Gérard Laquerre, André Lessard, Robert Levesque, Michel Loriot, Pierre Marcil, Jean Materot, Rhéal Mathieu, Claude Morency, André Ouellette, André Roy, François Schirm, Claude Simard, Richard Therrien, Réjean Tremblay, Pierre Vallières, Carole de Vault, Raymond Villeneuve.

So there is a list, a list of people we know are terrorists. A list of people involved in the disruption of a democracy through murder, robbery and kidnappings. So why is this important? They are all walking around amongst us, free and pardoned, while Canada fights a war on terror against a people in an insignificant place who basically did nothing against us. We bent over for murders out of fear of political instability and yet invest billions in a fight to ensure a trade relationship with the US.

Want more? Wrap your minds around the fact that one man on this FLQ list killed three people in a 40 year bombing campaign, twice convicted, and he walks free amongst us. No joke. His last conviction was in 2001 and he is free as a bird and on record as a man running on a hatred and prejudice against Canada’s ethnic majority.

As a reference point, Paul Bernardo was convicted of killing 2 people and he will never see the light of day (known rapist and murder of at least one more girl). He has been called a dangerous offender who shows no signs of remorse. While he may be eligible for parole some day, he will never be released.

What is the difference between these two men in the eyes of the victim’s families? Sure Bernardo is a monster, but if your mom, dad, brother whatever got killed by someone with 3 bodies on their sheet would you care about differences? Wouldn’t you want equal punishment for equal crimes? Murder is murder.

On that note:
I would like to mention a few of the names from the list of murders and criminals above to share/spread my rage at the FLQ and Canada and Quebec.

In general, none of these people served a real jail sentence befitting the crime they committed. Most have since rejoined society and in some cases have become very successful.

For instance:

Jacques Lanctôt - who kidnapped and held hostage a representative of a foreign country, now owns his own publishing house. He is still vocal in Quebec seperatism, but my issue is with his profession or business.

In 1989, the province of Quebec paid for a province wide social studies text book for high school students that among other things contained a key info graphic. This graphic showed that Quebec was one of the only Provinces in Canada that PAID to be a part of confederation. Taxes and revenue earned in Quebec went to the Federal government to support the other provinces. Simply put Quebec was receiving no economic benefit from being a part of Canada. This was WRONG then and is WRONG today. Canada basically throws money at that province to keep them happy and they are one of the few provinces that provide little to no economic benefits to the rest of the country.

This textbook came out at a key point in time for the political future of the country and Quebec knowingly left this textbook in schools because "it would cost too much to correct". Did Lanctôt’s company print this book, no, BUT with a mistake this big and this obvious and a mistake that would impact students for upwards of 20 years we must be at least a little suspicious especially considering its timing. So I ask, did a former FLQ member or sympathiser print, layout, edit, approve or develop content for this book? Who the fuck knows? But "Education is Key", as I once said in a drunken rant in Las Vegas. And this “mistake” raises FLQ related education questions.

Robert Comeau - member of the Vigor cell of the FLQ is now a history professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal. What kind of history do you think this man is going teach on the subject of political awakening in Quebec? What introductions to history does this man give to fresh faced students who have just left a public education system that has taught them that Quebec gains no benefit from being apart of Canada?

Remember back to the discussion I had today with my wife. Kids in Quebec don’t get October crisis in school, when they do get it in University it comes from the mouth of veterans. Hero’s of the revolution as it were.

Question me on this at your own risk. I took a Canadian history class at Ottawa University "1945 to present" taught by a professor that was, at the time, a candidate for the Bloc Quebecois in Montreal. He missed most of our classes because he was running his campaign but when he was around his disdaine for Canada and his Quebec slant was SICKENING. To prove a point I took a bullet in the form of writing my final paper on rasicm towards Angolophones in Quebec since 1970. I got a D because I failed to balance moves against Anglos with Canadian treatment of the French. Fuck him, I made my point and he knew it, we had a very frank and dark discussion during our one meeting on the paper. The gist, "you pass but fuck you", "right back at you slick". I also wrote a class evaluation, five pages long, on my issue with allowing a seperatist to teach a class on Canada, and wasting my money by letting him campaign on class time. He was fired the next year, better news he lost the election. When he came back to class, his defeat was met with a standing ovation, he got the point.

Richard Therrien - an FLQ member who aided and abetted the attempted escape of the murders of a Provincial Cabinet Minister (he was convicted of that crime) became a Judge in Quebec. Yes a judge. Do you think he may look a little lighter on people convicted of political crimes? Why do I mention this former FLQ member who became a judge, well...

Rhéal Mathieu - the man who Murdered a female factory worker with a letter bomb and is believed to have been responsible for the deaths of 2 other people with bombs in the 1960's. Well he has kept busy fire bombing businesses in Quebec with English names for instance "The Second Cup". He was convicted of the crime in 2001 and served 10 months in jail. When captured he had a pistol and a sawed off shot gun. After his second conviction for a bombing campaign and his "quick" release 7 McDonalds in Quebec were mysteriously fire bombed. It may not have been him, but at the time he was known to be training "disciples". In other words, educating people to the views, policies and tactics of the FLQ. What did they go to Afghanistan for again? Terrorist training camps?

So for, training terrorists, killing 3 people and waging a war against a race and language, Rhéal Mathieu served less than 10 years in jail. How does something like this happen? Remember the judge I was talking about? If one FLQ sympathizer found the bench, why not two? Want evidence? A man, known to have murdered with bombs, begins a bombing campaign in 2001 and serves 1 month in jail after his conviction even though it is put on record by the judge (Judge Tessier) that Mathieu had a prior criminal record for terrorist bombing, and was "not yet rehabilitated” and was “motivated by hate and prejudice.”

Is Judge Tessier a former FLQ member? Who the fuck knows, but I wonder if he is a current member with a sentence like that.

We could go on, with FLQ members currently involved in the television and film industry or high ranking officials in federally funded organizations, but what would be the point? What is clear is that the very thing Canada is in Afghanistan fighting happened here 30 years ago, and we let it go unpunished and now let it be taught to our children as gospel by the criminals.

This is a popular web topic, thankfully, so mine is not an original thought. What I am going to do is tell you that terrorist murders currently reside and succeed in Quebec and are having a huge influence on the young minds of a province in a weak position. What are we going to do about it?