Francis Simard, (June 2, 1946 – January 10, 2015) was a Quebec nationalist and convicted murderer. Simard was a member of the Chenier Cell of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), a group dedicated to the creation of an independent Marxist state out of the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

province of Quebec. Members of the group were responsible for the events known as the

October Crisis The October Crisis (french: Crise d'Octobre) refers to a chain of events that started in October 1970 when members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped the provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte and British diplomat James Cr ...

. As a member of the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale political party, he met Paul Rose and the two became involved in revolutionary activities in 1969 when Simard campaigned for the development of the French language in

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

, one of Montreal's English-language universities. During what became known as the

, on October 5, 1970, members of the FLQ's

Liberation Cell The Liberation Cell was a Montreal-based cell that was part of Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) revolutionary movement in Quebec whose members were responsible for a decade of bombings and armed robberies in the 1960s that led to what became ...

kidnapped the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Trade Commissioner

James Cross James Richard Cross (29 September 1921 – 6 January 2021) was an Irish-born British diplomat who served in India, Malaysia and Canada. While posted in Canada, Cross was kidnapped by members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) durin ...

from his Montreal home as part of a violent attempt to overthrow the elected government and to establish a Marxist Quebec state independent of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. On October 10, Francis Simard, along with Chenier Cell leader, Paul Rose and his brother,

Jacques Rose Jacques Rose (born 1947) is a Québécois nationalist who was a member of the Chénier Cell of the ''Front de libération du Québec'' (FLQ), along with his brother Paul Rose, who led the cell. The Chénier cell of the FLQ kidnapped Quebec Labour ...

and

Bernard Lortie Bernard Lortie (born c. 1951) of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was a member of the Chenier Cell of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) who were responsible for a decade of bombings and armed robberies in the province of Quebec. During what b ...

, kidnapped and then murdered Quebec vice premier and cabinet minister

Pierre Laporte Pierre Laporte (25 February 1921 – 17 October 1970) was a Canadian lawyer, journalist and politician. He was deputy premier of the province of Quebec when he was kidnapped and murdered by members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ ...

. Believing many others would follow in an uprising, their goal was to create an independent state based on the ideals of Fidel Castro's

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. In 1982, Simard described the murder of Laporte as "a sincere gesture to show that what we were saying was not just words." On May 20, 1971, Simard was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Pierre Laporte. He was given parole in 1982. Simard wrote a book published in 1982 about the October Crisis titled '' Pour en finir avec octobre''. In 1994, Quebec film director

Pierre Falardeau Pierre Falardeau (December 28, 1946 – September 25, 2009) was a Québécois film and documentary director, pamphleteer and noted activist for Quebec independence. Falardeau wrote at least one book, ''Rien n'est plus précieux que la libert� ...

made a movie from it titled '' Octobre''. Simard died of a ruptured aneurysm in Montreal on January 10, 2015.

References

Bibliography

*Simard, Francis, ''Talking it out : the October Crisis from inside'', Montreal, Guernica, 1987 (translated by

David Homel David Homel (born 1952) is an American-Canadian writer and literary translator.Ian McGillis"Montreal's David Homel counsels self-forgiveness in new memoir" ''Montreal Gazette'', April 23, 2021. He is most noted as a two-time winner of the Governo ...

) *Simard, Francis, ''Pour en finir avec Octobre'', Stanké, Montreal, 1982. {{DEFAULTSORT:Simard, Francis 1946 births 2015 deaths Front de libération du Québec members People from Montreal Canadian people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by Canada Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Canada Canadian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment People paroled from life sentence October Crisis Canadian people convicted of kidnapping