The Quebec Liberation Army () was a military wing of the

Front de libération du Québec The (FLQ) was a Quebec separatist terrorist group which aimed to establish an independent and socialist Quebec. Founded sometime in the early 1960s, the FLQ conducted a number of attacks between 1963 and 1970,Reich, Walter. ''Origins of Terror ...

History

Formation

The was formed on 1 June 1963 after the leaders of the FLQ divided the movement into two sections: a political section and a military section. The purpose of the ALQ was to supply the FLQ with money and firearms. The ALQ accomplished this by robbing barracks of the

Canadian Army The Canadian Army () is the command (military formation), command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also re ...

and local banks.

Notable actions

On 30 January 1964, during Opération Casernes, the ALQ broke into the

Fusiliers Mont-Royal Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal is a Primary Reserve infantry regiment of the Canadian Army. Lineage File:FMR Colours.jpg, The regimental colour of Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal. File:FMR Camp Flag.jpg, The camp flag of Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal. File:Fusilie ...

's barrack in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, subdued the nightwatchman along with a member of the Corps des Commissionnaires and captured a small number of employees who they tied up. The ALQ managed to steal 59 C1 rifles, 34

Sten The STEN (or Sten gun) is a British submachine gun chambered in 9×19mm which was used extensively by British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II and during the Korean War. The Sten paired a simple design with a low production co ...

guns, 4

Bren The Bren gun (Brno-Enfield) was a series of light machine guns (LMG) made by the United Kingdom in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1992. While best known for its role as the British and Commonwealth forces' primary infantry LMG in Wor ...

guns, 4 60-millimetre mortars, 3

Bazooka The Bazooka () is a Man-portable anti-tank systems, man-portable recoilless Anti-tank warfare, anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the "stovepipe", th ...

rocket launchers, 5 revolvers, 13,000 .22 long rifle rounds, 2,300 .303 British rounds, 2,000

7.62×51mm NATO The 7.62×51mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 7.62 NATO) is a rimless, straight walled, bottlenecked, centerfire rifle cartridge. It is a standard for small arms among NATO countries. First developed in the 1950s, the cartridge had first be ...

rounds and multiple grenades. This robbery caused soldiers to be deployed outside of all barracks in the Montreal metropolitan area the next day. 19 days later on 20 February 1963, the ALQ broke into the barrack of the 62nd regiment in

Shawinigan Shawinigan (; ) is a city located on the Saint-Maurice River in the Mauricie area in Quebec, Canada. It had a population of 49,620 as of the 2021 Canadian census. Shawinigan is also a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) ...

and stole 33

Browning Hi-Power The Browning Hi-Power is a single-action, semi-automatic pistol available in the 9×19mm Parabellum and .40 S&W calibers. It was based on a design by American firearms inventor John Browning, and completed by Dieudonné Saive at FN Herstal. ...

pistols, 12 transceivers, 1

Mimeograph A mimeograph machine (often abbreviated to mimeo, sometimes called a stencil duplicator or stencil machine) is a low-cost duplicating machine that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper. The process is called mimeography, and a co ...

, combat uniforms and UN blue helmets. On the same day, the ALQ occupied a military building in

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, ; ) is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

for hours and managed to steal numerous rounds of ammunition. On 9 April 1964, the

Sûreté du Québec The (SQ; , ) is the State police, provincial police service for the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. There is no official English name, though the agency's name is sometimes translated as Quebec Provincial Police ...

apprehended ALQ members Jean Lasalle, Jean Gagnon and René Dion after a failed robbery in Mont-Rolland. Between 21 April and 5 May, 5 other members of the ALQ were arrested.

Disbandment

The ALQ was disbanded in June 1964 and reorganized into the Armée Révolutionnaire du Québec (ARQ).https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/435-recall?cmp=DM_SEM_Listen_Titles

References

{{reflist 1963 establishments in Quebec 1964 disestablishments in Quebec Military units and formations established in 1963 Military units and formations disestablished in 1964 Quebec sovereignty movement Guerrilla organizations Communist terrorism Front de libération du Québec