History pieces: Some bits of the October Crisis
The Gazette gets a little edgy with its history stuff this week, reminding us not only of the War Measures Act and the funeral of Pierre Laporte but also the formation of the Equality Party.
The Centre d’histoire takes us to the corner of Notre-Dame and McGill Street in 1905.
Radio-Canada looks back at a 1969 incident in which nine Bordeaux Jail convicts escaped during a trip to court, leading to a mass police search of the area. Text and video.
The site histoirecanada.ca recently had a piece about the origins of the Portuguese community in Montreal, which began rather suddenly with the arrival of a boatload of working men in 1953.
Michael Black 22:51 on 2019-10-20 Permalink
I thought the War Measures Act had been invoked earlier, but I see this time the Gazette was a few days after the anniversary.
I’ll never forget Halloween that year, one house, belonging to a Quebec cabinet minister, had a soldier or two guarding the front door. I don’t think we rang the bell.
The news of Laporte’s death came from a kid a block away, early on the Sunday morning. I can’tremember how much I knew at the time. But the kid was even closer to the minister’s house, something I suddenly think of.
But I also remember seeing soldiers on the way to school, so tgey must have been plentiful.
James Cross’ kidnapping was in the Star on the Monday, no paper or much news on Sunday. At least half the front page was about the story. But a teaser to an nside story, something about a rock star dying. .I paid no attention that, but a few years later realized it was about Janis Joplin.
Michael