The October Crisis was one of the most stunning political events of the postwar period. It became the subject of intense debate in the media as well as academic and political circles for decades.  For the second time in Canadian history the powers of the War Measures Act were employed to suspend Canadians’ civil liberties in peacetime. The imposition of the War Measures Act on 16 October 1970 remains one of the most important human rights crises in Canadian history and, as with the espionage commission, was a major force in the mobilization of human rights activists.

The following primary documents are related to the activities of the Front de libération du Québec and debate surrounding the implementation of the War Mesures Act.

Responses to the War Measures Act

• Flyer announcing the creation of the Citizens Commission of Inquiry on the War Measures Act to investigate the use of the WMA outside Quebec.
• An emergency resolution passed by rights associations in Ottawa, Vancouver, Montreal and St. John's protesting the use of the War Measures Act.
• B.C. Civil Liberties Association: Press release regarding the use of the War Measures Act
• B.C. Civil Liberties Association: Summary of court case against the province of British Columbia's order in council to fire any teacher expressing sympathy with the FLQ.
• News Clipping: BC Teacher Fired
• Summary of protests initiated by civil liberties and human rights groups in Canada to the invocation of the War Measures Act.
• Memorandum from E.S. Hallman, Vice President and General Manager, English Services Division, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, warning reporters about covering the crisis. 

Documents in Quebec History: http://www2.marianopolis.edu/quebechistory/docs/october
Posted July 2006

The following website on Quebec history has an excellent database of primary documents on the October Crisis. The primary documents available on this site include:

• The Original Demands of the FLQ
• The Manifesto of the FLQ
• Letter of Pierre Laporte to Robert Bourassa
• Letter of Pierre Laporte to his wife
• October 15 statement by Robert Bourassa regarding negotiations
• Trudeau’s "Just watch me" interview
• Letters from the Quebec authorities requesting the War Measures Act
• Text of the War Measures Act
• Public Order Regulation, October 1970
• Explanations given in the House of Commons by John Turner, Minister of Justice, on the War Measures Act
• Trudeau’s televised statement on the War Measures Act
• Reaction of the FLQ to the War Measures Act
• Editorial by Claude Ryan on the War Measures Act
• Statement by René Lévesque on the War Measures Act
• Statements by T. C. Douglas, Leader of the New Democratic Party, on the War Measures Act
• Radio message of Mrs. Cross to her husband and the FLQ
• Public Order Temporary Regulations, November 1970
• Robert Bourassa on the October Crisis
• A radical interpretation of the October Crisis

William Tetley's Site on the October Crisis
http://www.mcgill.ca/maritimelaw/crisis
Posted August 2008

To complement his recent book on the October Crisis (see research), Tetley provides numerous primary documents in English and French on his website. The following is a list of the documents available on his site relating to the Crisis:

• Appendix C: The Events Preliminary to the Crisis (in chronological order - 1960 to 5 October 1970) - English text
• Appendix D: The Crisis per se (in chronological order - 5 October 1970 to 29 December 1970) - English text
• Appendix E: The Aftermath to the Crisis (in chronological order - 1 January 1971 to 2002) - English text
• Appendix F: General Contestation in Quebec Society (1960-1970) - English text
• Appendix G: Editorial of Jean-Paul Desbiens in La Presse (6 October 1970); Jean-Paul Desbiens, Four Years Later - French texts and English translations
• Appendix H: The Manifesto of the FLQ (6 October 1970) - French text and English translation
• Appendix I: Newspaper Opinions (13-17 October 1970)
• Appendix J: The Petition of the Sixteen Eminent Personalities (14 October 1970) - French text and English translation
• Appendix K: Letters of Drapeau, Saulnier, Saint-Aubin and Bourassa (15/16 October 1970) - French texts and English translations
• Appendix L: Proclamation and Regulations of 16 October 1970 under the War Measures Act and the War Measures Act - French and English texts
• Appendix M: Actions of Students, Dropouts and Professors after the Proclamation of 16 October 1970 and Commentary - English text
• Appendix N: Legal Opinion to the Parti Québécois lawyer Pothier Ferland - French text and English translation
• Appendix O: Minutes of the Parti Québécois National Council (18 October 1970) - French text and English translation
• Appendix P: Article of W. Tetley in Le Devoir (4 Nov. 1970) and his reply, 18 Oct. 2003, to letter of Guy Bouthillier and Robin Philpot (Le Devoir, 24 October 2003)
• Appendix Q: The Saga of Carole de Vault - English text
• Appendix R: Article in THE BEAVER, the magazine of Canada's National History Society (October/November 2000) - English text
• Appendix S: Letter of Claude Castonguay, La Presse (4 May 2001) - French text
• Appendix T: Last Lunch with Trudeau - English text and French translation
• Appendix U: Riel's Revolutionary Bill of Rights (1885) - English text
• Appendix V: Excerpts of the Montreal Annexation Manifesto (20 September 1849) and Signatories
• Appendix W: Declaration of Independence of Robert Nelson (1838) - French text
• Appendix X: List of FLQ Members, Supporters or Sympathizers and Members of Related Organizations - English text
• Appendix Y: The Roles of the Participants in Retrospect - English text
• Appendix Z: The Place of the Crisis in Quebec and Canadian History - English text
• Appendix ZZ: Abbreviations of Citations of Texts and Authors Referred To - English text