Stories from our pages over the last 150 years.
Although it was widely believed that "it could not happen in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½," it was perhaps inevitable that hot-heads of one type or another would eventually turn to kidnapping and hostage-holding to enforce their desperate demands.
The Front de Liberation Quebecois, the most extreme separatist group which has been linked with terrorist bombings, reportedly has claimed the abduction of British Trade Commissioner Cross in Montreal as its work.
The incident places the Canadian government in a dilemma. ... Release of jailed separatists, with $500,000 in gold, and air escape to Cuba, is a particularly high price, because it represents nothing less than a continuation of terrorist tactics through the freeing of persons charged with, or already found guilty of, violence, and the provision of money with which to carry on their illegal actions. The immediate remedy would thus perpetuate the illness. The government of ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ certainly has a responsibility to preserve the safety of foreign representatives in this country. It also has a responsibility to protect the country from political terrorists. Hesitating to contemplate publicly the possibility that the desperadoes may succeed in hiding their hostage, External Affairs Minister Mitchell Sharp prefers for the moment to go on the assumption that the kidnappers will be found and their prisoner rescued. That will certainly be the hope of all but a few twisted minds, and there should be no let-up until these criminals are brought to justice.
This is the first such kidnapping in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½, although two earlier plots in Montreal ... were frustrated and five persons were charged. The first should be the last, and all political parties, all police forces, should combine to ensure this.
-- Victoria Daily Times
