The FLQ and the Quebec October Crisis
The Chenier Cell
The Chenier cell, meanwhile, was led by Paul Rose, 26, a stout school teacher with Marxist leanings. The son of a laborer and dressmaker, Rose met Jacques Lanctôt of the Liberation cell in a police van after they had been arrested during an anti-Trudeau demonstration in June 1968.
Lanctôt invited Rose to join the FLQ, and Rose formed a cell that he named in honor of Dr. Jean-Olivier Chénier, leader of the French rebellion against the British in the Quebec territory in 1837.
Rose recruited his brother, Jacques, a laborer, as well as Francis Simard, an apprentice electrician, and Bernard Lortie, a student.
The news of the Cross abduction by the Liberation cell apparently came as a surprise to Chenier cell, which fashioned itself as the most macho of the FLQ.
The Rose brothers were driving to Texas with their mother and Simard to buy guns when they heard a radio news story about the Cross abduction. Not to be outdone, they raced back to Montreal and snatched Pierre Laporte.
The Cross abductors were prepared with blindfolds, bindings and food to sustain a long standoff.
The Chenier cell, on the other hand, was utterly unprepared. They took Laporte to a hideout house, but found they didn't have enough money between them to buy a meal for themselves, let alone the hostage. Laporte ponied up $60 from his own wallet, and the revolutionaries and their hostage feasted on barbecued chicken.