George Schoeters (22 April 1930 – 26 May 1994) was one of the founders and a leader of the Quebec Liberation Front (FLQ) militant group in 1963. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Schoeters worked as a courier for the

Belgian Resistance The Belgian Resistance (french: Résistance belge, nl, Belgisch verzet) collectively refers to the resistance movements opposed to the German occupation of Belgium during World War II. Within Belgium, resistance was fragmented between many se ...

, thus beginning his clandestine career. Born in Antwerp,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, Schoeters emigrated to

Montreal, Quebec 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-pe ...

, Canada in 1951 where he signed up for courses at the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte- ...

and as a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

activist, recruited others on campus. A person who supported the idea of armed

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

, in the late 1950s he went to

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

for training with the National Liberation Front (FLN). In the early 1960s, he joined the Rally for National Independence (RIN), a

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

political organization dedicated to the promotion of Quebec

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

from Canada. Through RIN, Schoeters met

Raymond Villeneuve Raymond Villeneuve (born September 11, 1943) is a founding member of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), a violent Quebec separatist movement, responsible various acts of violence in Canada. Villeneuve remained out of the spotlight as he ...

and Gabriel Hudon, left-wing radicals who supported his belief in armed

. An admirer of Fidel Castro and

Che Guevara Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quot ...

, Schoeters made repeated visits to

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 ...

through the Institute of Agrarian Reform in the early 1960s. Returning to Quebec Georges Schoeters, Raymond Villeneuve, and Gabriel Hudon formed the FLQ. The group's declarations called for a Marxist insurrection, the overthrow of the Quebec government, the independence of Quebec from Canada and the establishment of a workers' society. Financed by armed

bank robberies Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank branch or teller, as opposed to other bank- ...

, Schoeters and members of the FLQ launched a campaign of repeated bombings in the city of Montreal and resulted in the accidental death of a night watchman. While Schoeters was arrested on June 16, 1963 and convicted of "terrorist activities", the

Crown Attorney Crown attorneys or crown counsel (or, in Alberta and New Brunswick, crown prosecutors) are the prosecutors in the legal system of Canada. Crown attorneys represent the Crown and act as prosecutor in proceedings under the Criminal Code and vario ...

was unable to gather sufficient evidence to convict him of murder as was done with others such as Raymond Villeneuve and Gabriel Hudon. Schoeters was quoted, following his arrest as saying "When fourteen years old I was made prisoner by the Germans, but they treated me better than the Montreal police". Sentenced to two five-year terms, to run concurrently, Schoeters was released in 1966 after serving less than three years in prison. He immediately left Canada and never returned. Schoeters lived for several years in Stockholm, Sweden, where he committed suicide on 26 May 1994.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schoeters, Georges 1930 births 1994 deaths Front de libération du Québec members People from Antwerp Belgian resistance members Belgian emigrants to Canada Quebec sovereigntists