NCJ Number
73891
Journal
Criminologie Volume: 13 Issue: 2 Dated: (1980) Pages: complete issue
Editor(s)
A Parizeau
Date Published
1980
Length
113 pages
Annotation
The theme of this issue is an assessment of the Quebec crisis of 1970 and an attempt to view it in perspective by the authors of four articles examining various aspects of the terrorist campaign and the Government's reaction.
Abstract
A general introduction states the theme of this collection of articles, that the 1970 Quebec crisis, despite its gravity, did not justify the abuse of the powers granted to the police under the War Measures Act, supposedly to be invoked only to meet the threat of insurrrection. The Canadian Government's reactions to the terrorist campaign by the Quebec Liberation Front (FLQ) included calling in the army and endowing the police with such powers as arbitrary search, arrest and seizure, outlawing the FLQ, and denying its members political prisoner status. Recalling the events of October 1970 in chronological sequence, the first article focuses on the damages inflicted upon the Canadian system of penal justice by the Government's actions. Due process, the presumption of innocence, defendant right to counsel, and prisoner rights became casualties in the escalated confrontation between the FLQ and Government forces. The intervention of the army as overdramatization of the crisis is examined in the second essay, along with the implications of the use of a modern army by a democratic government for a task extraneous to its stated mission (i.e., to defend the country in case of war). The lack of effectiveness of the Quebec police in dealing with the crisis, and army and police attitudes are also discussed. The third essay describes how impartial and presumably effective police investigations were thwarted by poltical influences and pressures upon the judicial system by the party in power exploiting the situation for partisan advantage. A review of the literature produced on the 1970 Quebec crisis emphasizes the absence of works by Quebec intellectuals, and suggests possible reasons for this phenomenon. An English translation of the introduction, summarizing the publication's contents, is appended. Each essay has an individual list of references. For individual articles, see NCJ 73892-94.