Was The Québec Liberation Front A Terrorist Organization?

The Québec Liberation Front (Front de libération du Québec) was a French, far-left terrorist organization in Canada, which was responsible for 200 bombings in the Montreal area, the kidnapping of the British Trade Commissioner, James Cross, and the murder of Québec's Vice Premier, Pierre Laporte.  

The FLQ was most active during the 1960s and early 1970s. The Front claimed to fight against Anglophone (English) "domination" in Québec, for radical left-wing revolutionary values and Québec independence. The FLQ began orchestrating targeted bombings in the Montreal area, beginning in 1963, as well as gun battles, bank hold-ups and kidnappings.

The FLQ's most daring and deadly activities were in October 1970, also known as "Black October," when the Front kidnapped the British trade commissioner from his Montreal home and held him hostage for two months, until December 3, 1970. The FLQ's demands included $500,000, the release of 23 fellow FLQ terrorists who had been sentenced to prison terms and free passage to Cuba, where the FLQ would live in exile.

On October 10, 1970, the FLQ also kidnapped Pierre Laporte, the province's vice-premier. Laporte was tortured for one week and was eventually murdered by the FLQ. His body was discovered in the trunk of a car, on the south shores of Montreal.

The FLQ's main leaders were eventually arrested after the events of Black October and the terrorist Front essentially ceased to exist by 1971.