"My father's uncle is Wilfred Vincent O'Neil who was killed by the FLQ! It's too bad what happen back then as our family still misses him yet today! "
Posted by Crystal O'Neil (Gaspesie,QC) Jan.05/11 The War Measures Act- 40 Years Later
It's been forty years since the deadly FLQ attacks took place, but for the families of those murdered, time doesn't erase the pain of having lost a loved one. For those who suffered through injuries and amputations, the reality of those barbaric acts linger. The FLQ perpetrated over 170 acts of violence which resulted in eight deaths and a multitude of injured.
Sgt. Wilfred V. O'Neil, was the first fatal casualty of the FLQ reign of terror. A night watchman at the Canadian Army Recruiting Centre in Montreal, he was killed in January 1963, when he tried to remove 10 sticks of dynamite from a container.
"In February 1969 - the FLQ set off a powerful bomb that ripped through the Montreal Stock Exchange causing massive destruction and seriously injuring twenty-seven people." Link
"The FLQ sent a bomb to a Quebec shoe manufacturer, to show their solidarity with the union. Therese Morin, 64, the secretary to the general manager was killed when it exploded in the office May 5, 1965. She had just returned from lunch .....
.....On April 19, 1964, some of the FLQ raided a gun shop in Montreal for weapons. They murdered store manager Leslie MacWilliams, 56.
....Sgt. Major Walter Leja, 42, had both hands blown off as he was trying to defuse the last of three FLQ bombs in a mailbox in the Westmount region of Montreal. The bombers were just warming up." LINK
Today these deaths are largely forgotten and even Quebec schools make sure to gloss over the FLQ.
It's little wonder, as the author of the actual book used to teach history has characterized the death of Pierre Laporte at the hands of the terrorists 'accidental' and that the other deaths were 'collateral damage.' LINK
In Quebec, especially among young francophones, the FLQ is nothing more than folklore, it's barbaric image successfully rehabilitated by sympathetic journalists who have contributed to a historical makeover par excellence.
A review of the French press will reveal that the word 'terrorist' is never used to describe the members of the FLQ, with the sanitized term of 'Felkist,' (FLQer) much preferred.
The political revisionism is reminiscent of Stalinist apologists who created the myth for decades that 'Uncle Joe' was a swell guy.
The success of the campaign to rehabilitate the reputation of the FLQ is underlined by the welcoming arms that accepted the terrorists back into mainstream Quebec society, where many of the terrorists have worked for unions, government and as esteemed journalists, their terrorist past, never much of an issue.
Many will say that it is fit and proper that those who commit crimes be re-integrated back into society once the offender has paid his debt.
But the fact remains that the FLQ terrorists were treated rather lightly, with some receiving nothing more than a slap on the wrist or a couple of years in the pen. The largest sentence served was but eleven years, and the majority of the terrorists never apologized to the families of the victims, nor expressed any remorse whatsoever.
Many went back to a life of activism and in the case of Rhéal Mathieu, a return to terrorism itself, when he was convicted of involvement in the firebombing of a Second Cup coffee shop in 2001. LINK
Mr. Mathieu remains a prolific and honoured contributor to vigile.net as well as convicted FLQ terrorist Pierre Schneider who also writes for the militant website and who signs his articles with this beauty (proud member of the 1st FLQ-1963)
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So it was with utter disgust that I witnessed the forces of order move at light speed in reaction to a complaint by the Parti Quebecois against Colonel James Angus Brown over 'terrorist threats' over his blog posts at Parkavenuegazette.com.
Think I'm joking?
Read an account here of the pursuit of an Internet hate-monger from Toronto that has taken years to prosecute. LINK
So the poor colonel is a threat to society.... Hmmmm
In a recent post on vigile.net, convicted terrorist Rhéal Mathieu reprinted a hate letter which was sent to homes in Westmount threatening all sorts of hell in the case of partition, including the burning of Westmount Square. LINK
Did the police pick up Mathieu or force him to remove the offending article?
When a twice convicted terrorist makes a threat, shouldn't the police take it seriously?
Colonel James Angus Brown a terrorist? Hardly....
Only in Quebec can real terrorists be labelled harmless and the bombastic as terrorists.
It's a question of what language the threatener speaks.
