Paul Rose (political figure)

Paul Rose, born October 16, 1943 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is a political commentator and a trade unionist, who was convicted of murder and kidnapping of Quebec cabinet minister Pierre Laporte in 1971. He was the leader of the Chenier cell of the "Front de Libération du Quebec" (FLQ), a terrorist group whose members were also responsible for a decade of bombings and armed robberies.

Biography

He was born in the Saint-Henri district of Montreal. At the age of eight, his family moved to Ville-Emard and later on his family moved to "Ville Jacques-Cartier", now part of Longueuil, where he spent most of his teenage years.

Paul Abigal Rose was named Paul after his father, Paul Henply Rose. His second name came from his mother, Abigal, who was a very important part of his life.

A member of the "Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale" political party, Rose's involvement with radical groups began in 1968 after meeting Jacques Lanctôt, a member of the FLQ, during a rally against Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau at the "Saint-Jean-Baptiste" parade.

During what became known as the October Crisis, on October 5, 1970 members of the FLQ's Liberation Cell kidnapped the British Trade Commissioner James Cross from his Montreal home as part of a violent attempt to overthrow the elected government and to establish a socialist Quebec state independent of Canada.

On October 10, Paul Rose as leader of the FLQ's Chenier Cell joined with members, Jacques Rose (brother), Bernard Lortie, and Francis Simard to kidnap and then murder Quebec Vice Premier and cabinet minister, Pierre Laporte. Believing many others would follow in an uprising, their goal was to create an independent state based on the ideals of Fidel Castro's Cuba.

On March 13, 1971, Paul Rose was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Pierre Laporte. At sentencing, Rose screamed a defense of his actions. Before the judge cut him off, he shouted in French: "Your verdict has no importance. I tell you the establishment finds me guilty of being Québécois". He was granted full parole by the National Parole Board of Canada on December 20, 1982.

During the 1990s, he contributed to the monthly "l'aut'journal". He was nominated the New Democratic Party of Quebec candidate in a 1992 provincial by-election. His nomination was controversial, and resulted in the federal New Democratic Party denouncing its former provincial wing (ties between the two parties had been severed in 1989) and seek legal options in an attempt to force the provincial party to change its name. [Harper, Tim, "Quebec NDP outrages McLaughlin," "Toronto Star", December 12, 1991] [Canadian Press, "McLaughlin distances party from ex-terrorist," "Hamilton Spectator", December 12, 1991]

In 1996, Rose was elected leader of the NDPQ which by this time was called the "Parti de la démocratie socialiste". He led the party until 2002 when it joined the "Union des forces progressistes". Rose currently works for the "Confédération des syndicats nationaux" labour union and remains a strong supporter of the Quebec sovereignty movement.

References

External links

* [http://www.marxists.org/history/canada/quebec/flq/1971/rose-speech.htm Defense Speech of Paul Rose given March 12, 1971]