THE CADRE

FLO: when a nation panics

\n} (linddhm Hi .my writer of the eountr) errn be tllteslt‘el ‘.\lllllllll .2 warrant and held \\lllrt)lll eharee under the stseepirig poners the tederul goiernrrient lids gben itsell' under the eontrm'ersiul War Measures \et,

[his is the ultimate meaning ot the iie\\ ernei' ene_\ ld\\'.s .rs espluined by ol't'retuls ot the federal justiee d rtnient .rt .1 pitss brietrne lust l'rrdri}.

.lustiee Minister John lurner told the ('ommons that the hue is aimed at terrorists and erirnriiiils who promote \‘iolent I‘e\olutiori.

L’nder the authority of the Act. the government outlawed similar organi/iitions udvoeuting the

the l’LQ and any Violent merthrow ol' the government.

.\Il} members or supporters of shell groups are for u \5.(l0() tine and the years [It prison. l’euee ol'tieers.

ineluding the “reason to

suspeet

armed torees. need only hin'e before llltlhlllg an arrest.

Sus‘peets earl be held as long as Zl d.r_\'s \\'llli()tll being ehurged. and the date for ‘d trial need be set only within L)0 thus. .»\t the trial itself. the prineipt: that u person is presumed innoeent until he rs‘ proven guilty is reversed. A person is deemed to be a member of the lit) il be exer‘ attended ti l‘r‘ont meeting. spoke publiel} in support of the group or acted as its representative.

[hits the burden of proof is on the suepeet to establish that he is not an FLQ member.

But how the law is applied. Turner‘s ot't'ieizils made eleur. depends largely on the judgement and fairness polieeriien and soldiers twho are now ot‘t'ieers‘“ with WltlL‘ powers It) Ltl‘I‘Csllr :

(leur‘l). b} their language. the new l.r\\‘s are direeted at the from de liberation du Qtlel‘s‘e‘. its aims. its irietliods and its members

But the‘; .rppl) outside ol ()iiebee us \\ell. and their power .retii;ill_\ extends tur be_\ond the ranks ol the l'iLQ.

l’he Bltrek l’unthers. the olilieiuls eoneeded. eould be Ll target.

l'lie sweep ol' the new powers is illustrated in :i regulation under the \\.rr' \leusures r\et that outltms the HQ and goes on to say “:rn) group of persons or rissoeiution that Lid'i‘oedtes the use ot loree or the eomniis‘sion ol' ertrne us :i merrns ot or as an Lrid in treeoinplishing governmental elitrnge in (‘zmtidzi is deelured to be rm unlawful ass eiation."

\t 3.5” :i.m. lridu)‘. Ll member of the l‘LQ “ho did not eommit any er‘tme under the eountt'y‘s statutes. as the} stood then. \\‘;is L! lun—trbrding.y eiti/en

But dl 4.01 J in he beeiime .i e'llllllllill sriiipl) beeuuse ol his riiernbership in the «,irgdni/trtion.

\s \tlell. he eould be ;l\\;ll\'L'llL‘\l .md arrested b) an} polieerntrn « member ot the armed t'orees .md jailed for up to ()0 driss' before being brought before .1 superior judge who eotild set his eourt lt‘ltll date.

l’he unused eould subsequently be maximum term ot live years in rail exen it there is no eudenee that he eoniniitted an) zret ot' \iolenee. or grn_\ other er‘rine under the normal l‘.t\\'s ot the ('r‘rminul (ode.

l’ollowing the assassination ol l’ieire lupor'te. however. the House ol‘ (‘onimons endorsed lllljllk‘lllk‘ltldlltlll ol the \et. nitli Hill) the \e\\ l)emoerxrtte l’tiit) obieetrng

" PC tie e

senteneed to Ll

UNIVéRSlTY OF PRINCE EDWARD lSLAND

Editorial Reason required, but panic offered

The terror tactics of the Front de Liberation du Quebec are being rendered more and more effective by every Canadian who screams fanatically for revenge and by every governmental over-reaction such as the implementation 'of the War Measures Act.

The FLO set out to knock Canada on its ear by striking panic in the hearts of every citizen. They set out to call attention to the frustration of all Ouebecois who advocate separatism. They set out to evoke a reaction from governments that would not be grounded in reason and common sense.

And almost every reaction from every Canadian politician and much of the reaction from the public have been monuments to the succeSS of the FLO scheme.

When a sober, calm approach was

needed, the federal government offered the War Measures Act, a blatant and savage travesty of the same civil liberties and democratic principles they claim they are trying to salvage.

Under the War Measures Act, democracy ceases to exist in Canada. And the fact that the Front de Liberation du Quebec can be credited with its destruction is a pitiful commentary on the Canadian political system whose mandate it is to preserve it.

The last time that. a Western nation deem-3d it necessary to compromise its democratic values it lost them, and while few Canadians realize it, we are in very real danger of losing ours.

That occasion was the establishment of Nazi rule in Germany in 1933.

The pretext for invoking the law was the Reichstag fire of February 27, 1933. Hitler at the time was leader of a democratic coalition government that was about to face an election.

He called the fire a "communist crime” and used it to justify an act that was frighteningly similar to the Canadian War Measures Act.

This decree laid down that:

"Restrictions on personal liberty, on the right of free’ expression of opinion, including freedom of the press; on the rights of assembly and association; and violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communication, and warrants for house searches, orders for confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are also permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.”

By the use of the powers granted in the act the Nazis and their allies were able to obtain a majority in the Reichstag and pass an "enabling act" giving the government exclusive legislative powers. I

Whenever a nation lays aside democratic principles that appear to be getting in the way of swift action to solve a crime, ,it jeopardizes its entire democratic system.

Sections of the Canadian Criminal Code dealing with sedition are almost as biting as sections of the War Measures Act and in normal circumstances the police can usually find ways of holding a person for three or four days before charges are laid.

The War Measures Act was a dangerous overreaction by the government and should be repealed as fast as possible.

Under the emergency regulations of the War Measures Act, it is considered an indictable offence, bearing a prison term of up to five years, to "communicate statements on behalf of or as a representative of the unlawful association," in this case the FLO.

It is also unlawful, and liable to the same punishment, to "advocate or promote the unlawful acts, aims, principles or policies of the unlawful association."

Under these regulations, the government, widely interpreting the clauses, can effectively muzzle any and all information about the FLO.

It is perhaps, desireable to muzzle FLO. propaganda. But it is unforgiveable and unjust to attempt to block legitimate information about the organization because this information is essential if Canadians are to make intelligent assessments of the movements, assessments which they are making hurriedly during the current crisis.

Under no conditions could we endorse the PLO or its tactics. The murder of Pierre Laporte, whatever his politics and whatever his social standing, was cowardly, ugly and pointless. But to deny Canada vital information about the grOup contributes nothing to the salvation of the democratic system and, in our view, takes something away.

In the next four pages, The Cadre presents what we consider important information about the FLO and about

government tactics indealing with them. While we agree that some of the inforrration we are presenting here —-

particularly the FLO manifesto —— could under a broad interpretation of the War Measures Act Regulations ~ be classed as

FLO propaganda, we feel that to omit it for this reason is to deny our readers a fair account of the aims, aspirations and tactics of the movement, and would thus be a barrier to their own assessments of the Quebec situation.

Already some Canadian university papers, including the university of Guelph, "Ontarion," have been confiscated by police for publishing the most recent FLQ manifesto.

Our own denunciation of the FLQ and their tactics was made after considering the information which we are publishing here. We feel that our readers should at least have access to the same material and thus be given an opportunity to consider the issue from different angles before deciding where they stand.

Much of the political frustration in Quebec is not hard to understand. Even the federal Royal Commission on bilingualism and biculturalism acknowledges that Quebec workers are exploited and that the whole Quebec economy is geared towards the interests of the Anglo-American investors.

The following material, which for one reason and another has been all but ignored by Canada's commercial news media, provides some insight into the FLQ movement, the separatist movement in general and the crisis of democracy through which Canada is now struggling.

Most of it was prepared by Canadian University Press, a collective of Canadian college newspapers of which the Cadre is a member.