Charles Yacoub is a
Lebanese-Canadian who hijacked a
Greyhound
The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurgenc ...
bus and drove it to
Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill (french: Colline du Parlement, colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its Gothic revival suite of buildings, and their archit ...
in
Ottawa, Ontario
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
, Canada in 1989. The eight-hour hostage taking resulted in no casualties, but was a notable incident of
domestic terrorism in Canada.
Life
Yacoub was born in Lebanon and moved to Canada in 1976. He settled in the
Repentigny suburb of
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
, became the owner of a jewellery store, and married and had two children.
[Yacoub 'desperate' before hijacking." ''The Montreal Gazette.'' Mar 6, 1990. pg. B.1]
Hostage taking
On April 7, 1989, Yacoub boarded a Greyhound bus that was traveling from Montreal to New York. At 12:20 pm on the
Champlain Bridge, just outside Montreal, Yacoub brandished a .45 calibre semi-automatic handgun. He held the gun to the head of driver Roger Bednarchuk and ordered him to drive to Ottawa. He also held a device which he claimed would detonate a bomb hidden in the back of the bus, though no bomb was ever found. There were nine other passengers on the bus. At the bridge toll booth, he released Rene Coupal, a former police officer, who then alerted the authorities.
Yacoub was a Lebanese-Christian and claimed to represent the Christian Lebanese Liberation Front, though all later evidence indicated he worked alone. He was upset by the
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...
and demanded that Syria remove its forces from the country.
[Hamilton, Dwight. "Terror Threat: International and Homegrown terrorists and their threat to Canada", 2007] He later said that his goal in the event was to draw attention to the situation in Lebanon.
The
Sûreté du Québec
The (SQ; , ) is the provincial police service for the Canadian province of Quebec. No official English name exists, but the agency's name is sometimes translated to 'Quebec Provincial Police' or QPP in English-language sources. The headquarters ...
began to search for the bus, but could not find it believing it was still continuing south. They did not alert the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
or
Ontario Provincial Police
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. Under its provincial mandate, the OPP patrols provincial highways and waterways, protects provincial government buildings and officials, patrols unincorp ...
who were caught unaware when it arrived in Ottawa around 2:45. The bus arrived in Ottawa and Yacoub ordered it driven up to Parliament Hill, which was then open to public vehicles. The bus then proceeded onto the lawn of the Parliament Buildings where it became stuck in the spring mud. A long hostage standoff began with Yacoub gradually releasing hostages. Over the course of the event he fired three shots into the ground, though he never threatened to harm the hostages. The parliament was evacuated, and police surrounded the bus. The event, unfolding for hours in the centre of the nation's capital, became a major media story covered live by the country's networks. At 7:55 Yacoub released the remaining five hostages and exited the bus where he was taken into custody.
Yacoub faced five charges, and went to trial in 1990. He was convicted of
forcible confinement and use of a weapon to commit an offence, but in a surprise to many was acquitted of the more serious charges of
hostage
A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized, such as a relative, employer, law enforcement or government to act, or refr ...
taking,
intimidation of Parliament
Intimidation of Parliament is a criminal law in Canada that makes it a crime to violently intimidate the Parliament of Canada and the provincial legislatures. The maximum sentence is fourteen years. It reads:
The law is one of only a handful of ...
, and
aggravated assault. While he could have faced life in prison, he was sentenced to only six years in prison.
References
*"Yacoub 'desperate' before hijacking." ''The Montreal Gazette.'' Mar 6, 1990. pg. B.1
*"8-hour drama ends on Parliament Hill Hostages freed from bus Gunman's demands linked to Lebanon." Tim Harper and Patrick Doyle ''Toronto Star.'' Apr 8, 1989. pg. A.1
*"Stuck bus sits as memento of hijacking." Peter O'Neil. ''The Vancouver Sun.'' Apr 8, 1989. pg. A.1.FRO
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yacoub, Charles
Terrorism in Canada
Canadian Maronites
Lebanese emigrants to Canada
People from Repentigny, Quebec
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people