Group seeking reparation for the October crisis rejected by the Superior Court

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A Quebec writer and the group he represents waited too long for the federal government’s decision, taken fifty years ago, to invoke the War Measures Act during the October Crisis, to be declared constitutionally invalid, a Superior Court judge ruled. .

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Gaétan Dostie, a poet and essayist, and a group called Justice pour les prisonniers d’octobre 1970 made the request last year in what appeared to be a step toward seeking redress for what they went through. Dostie claimed that being arrested and detained for 11 days for no reason affected him for years.

“This judgment … does not make any negative inference about the legitimacy of Mr. Dostie’s fight to obtain a form of political redress for the actions taken against him and against all those who were imprisoned without a warrant and without charge in 1970. No negative conclusions should be drawn Let him be attracted by the severity of the trauma he claims to have suffered, ”Judge Sylvain Lussier wrote in a decision handed down on Monday. “But this is no longer for the court to judge.”

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Dostie, a student in 1970, spent 11 days behind bars without being charged after the federal government invoked the War Measures Act in October 1970, filing an application last year seeking to have the proclamation declared constitutionally invalid.

The federal government, headed by then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, invoked the act after diplomat James Cross and Quebec Labor Minister Pierre Laporte were kidnapped by members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ). Cross survived the kidnapping while Laporte was assassinated the day after the War Measures Act was invoked.

In the days that followed, nearly 500 people in Quebec were arrested and detained with no evidence required to link them to the FLQ or the kidnappings. The War Measures Act, a federal law created during World War I, was finally repealed in 1988.

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“The plaintiffs do not deny having sought legal support for their claims that are political in nature, that is, obtaining an acknowledgment of the violation of their rights, an apology and possibly compensation,” Lussier wrote in his decision. But given that the law was repealed more than 30 years ago, Canada’s Attorney General argued, the questions raised by the group’s request were theoretical and a courtroom was not the appropriate forum to address them.

“It appears … that the required court ruling would not be one of legal aid and that no discretion should be exercised to allow it to proceed,” Lussier wrote. “The legitimate debate that remains about the legality and legitimacy of the actions of governments in October 1970 has long been in the historical and political arena. Courts should no longer be asked to participate. “

Simon Cadotte, the attorney who represented Dostie and his group in court, said he will contact his clients later this week to see if they plan to appeal the decision.

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