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19705 October – December 1970 · Montreal

October Crisis

The Canada Pavilion's inverted pyramid on Île Notre-Dame in 1967, later the site of Cross's release talks
Archival image: Laurent Bélanger. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Front de libération du Québec kidnapped the British trade commissioner James Cross in Montreal on 5 October 1970 and Quebec's labour minister Pierre Laporte five days later. Pierre Trudeau's government invoked the War Measures Act, its only use in peacetime, and 497 people were arrested, most never charged. Laporte was found dead on 17 October; Cross was freed in December in exchange for his captors' passage to Cuba.

Sites

  1. Site 1: Redpath Crescent, Golden Square MilePrivate street where Cross was seized at gunpoint; seen from the pavement only.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: Former Expo 67 grounds, Île Notre-DameExpo island where a former pavilion was declared Cuban territory for the release talks.Map ↗

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