Georges Schoeters

George Schoeters (born 22 April 1930) was one of the founders and a leader of the Front de libération du Québec terrorist group in 1963. During World War Two, Schoeter worked as a courier for the Belgian Resistance, thus beginning his clandestine career. [Morf, Gustave. Terror in Quebec. Toronto: Clark, Irwin & Company Limited, 1970. ]

Born in Antwerp, Belgium, Schoeters emigrated to Montreal, Canada in 1951 where he signed up for courses at the Université de Montréal and as a left-wing activist, recruited others on campus. An person who supported the idea of armed revolution, in the late 1950s he went to Algeria for training with the National Liberation Front (FLN). In the early 1960s, he joined the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale (RIN), a Quebec political organization dedicated to the promotion of Quebec independence from Canada. Through the RIN, Schoeters met Raymond Villeneuve and Gabriel Hudon, left-wing radicals who supported his belief in armed revolution.

An admirer of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, Schoeters made repeated visits to Cuba through the Institute of Agrarian Reform in the early 1960's. Returning to Quebec Georges Schoeters, Raymond Villeneuve, and Gabriel Hudon formed the terrorist organization, the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ). The group's declarations called for a Marxist insurrection, the overthrow of the Quebec government, the independence of Quebec from Canada and the establishment of a workers' society. Financed by armed bank robberies, Schoeters and members of the FLQ launched a campaign of repeated bombings in the city of Montreal and resulted in the accidental death of a night watchmen.

While Schoeters was arrested on June 16, 1963 and convicted of terrorist activitivies, the Crown Attorney was unable to gather sufficient evidence to prove him guilty of murder as they did with fellow terrorists, Raymond Villeneuve and Gabriel Hudon. Schoeters was quoted, following his arrest as saying "When fourteen years old I was made prisoner by the Germans, but they treated me better than the Montreal police. [Morf, Gustave. Terror in Quebec. Toronto: Clark, Irwin & Company Limited, 1970. ] " Sentenced to two five-year terms, to run concurrently, Schoeters was released in 1966 after serving less than three years in prison. He immediately left Canada and never returned through legal means of entry.

Georges Schoeters is reported to have recently died somewhere in Europe.

References

1 Morf, Gustave. Terror in Quebec. Toronto: Clark, Irwin & Company Limited, 1970.2 Morf, Gustave. Terror in Quebec. Toronto: Clark, Irwin & Company Limited, 1970.