The Chénier Cell, also known as the South Shore Gang, was a
Montreal-based
Front de libération du Québec
The (FLQ) was a Marxist–Leninist and Quebec separatist guerrilla group. Founded in the early 1960s with the aim of establishing an independent and socialist Quebec through violent means, the FLQ was considered a terrorist group by the Canadia ...
(FLQ)
terrorist cell responsible for a decade of
bomb
A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...
ing,
armed robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...
and
kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...
that led to the
October Crisis.
[The Canadian Encyclopedia: October Crisis](_blank)
/ref>
/ref>
Background
The Chénier Cell was named after the Lower Canada Rebellion patriote movement leader Jean-Olivier Chénier.usurp
A usurper is an illegitimate or controversial claimant to power, often but not always in a monarchy. In other words, one who takes the power of a country, city, or established region for oneself, without any formal or legal right to claim it as ...
the elected Government of Quebec
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
and create a Québécois people's uprising to establish a new Quebec state independent of Canada.
Timeline
On October 5, 1970, members of another Montreal-based FLQ cell, the 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 United Kingdom Trade Commissioner James Richard 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) during ...
from his Montreal home.The October Crisis
/ref>
On October 8, 1970, the FLQ Manifesto
The FLQ Manifesto was a key document of the group the Front de libération du Québec. On 8 October 1970, during the October Crisis, it was broadcast by CBC/Radio-Canada television as one of many demands required for the release of kidnapped Brit ...
was broadcast by CBC/Radio-Canada as one of the many demands required for the release of James Cross.[FLQ Manifesto](_blank)
/ref> The manifesto criticised big business, the Catholic Church, René Lévesque, Robert Bourassa
Robert Bourassa (; July 14, 1933 – October 2, 1996) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd premier of Quebec from 1970 to 1976 and from 1985 to 1994. A member of the Liberal Party of Quebec, he served a total of just un ...
and declared Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau ( , ; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), also referred to by his initials PET, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada
The prime mini ...
"a queer
''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...
".football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
with his nephew on his front yard and forced him into their vehicle at gunpoint.Canadian Armed Forces
}
The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force.
...
to support the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal.strangled
Strangling is compression of the neck that may lead to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain. Fatal strangling typically occurs in cases of violence, accidents, and is one of two main ways that hanging ...
in the back of a stolen motor vehicle abandoned near the Montreal Saint-Hubert Longueuil Airport.farmhouse
FarmHouse (FH) is a social Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity founded at the University of Missouri on April 15, 1905. It became a national organization in 1921. Today FarmHouse has 33 active chapters and four associate ch ...
basement at Saint-Luc, Quebec.murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...
, while Jacques Rose was convicted of being an accessory after the fact with all members pleading " responsible".
See also
*Timeline of the Front de libération du Québec
The following is a timeline of the FLQ, from the founding of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) in the early 1960s to the publishing of the enquiry commission reports in the 1980s.
1962
* On October 31, the Comité de libération natio ...
* List of terrorist attacks in Canada
References
External links
Chronology of the October Crisis, 1970, and its Aftermath
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chénier Cell
October Crisis