Mr. Speaker, I promise to speak directly to the motion in my speech.
In 2003, Jacques Parizeau, one of the greatest statesmen in the history of Quebec, if not the greatest, said, “I did not put anyone in jail, but I was called fascist and intolerant. That is what image is all about. Pierre Trudeau had 500 people thrown in jail, but he is a great democrat. I do not want to play this game anymore.”
Today, just like Mr. Parizeau, many of us refuse this Canadian narrative and do not want to play this game anymore. Those 500 men and women were workers, mechanics, booksellers, activists, poets, artists and free spirits from all corners of Quebec, and their only crime was to want Quebec to be independent.
The following 59 names are part of a list of nearly 500 people who were victims of genuine acts of state terror: Yves Pételle, Robert Patrick Pheeney, Madeleine Piché, Jean Pilon, Jacques Pinsonneault, Jacques Plante, Marcel Pleau, Claude Poisson, Jacques Poitras, James Poland, Bernard Potvin, Jean-Pierre Potvin, Claire Pouliot Bonenfant, Roland Prénovost, Charles Prévost, Jean Prieur, Denis Pronovost, Gilles Pronovost, Francine Quirion, Pierre Raby, Mario Racette, Rodolphe Racicot, Jean Racine, John Rankin, Robert Reed, Lory Richard Rice, Jean-Marc Rioux, Jean-François Rivard, Jocelyne Robert, Gilles Rocheleau, Yvon Rodrigue, Lise Rose, Suzanne Rose, Rose Rose Doré, André Rousseau, Louise Rousseau, Claude Rousson, François Roux, Clément Roy, Denis Roy, Jean Roy, Normand Roy, Serge Roy, André Royer, César Rutigliano, Raymond Sabourin, Colette Saint-Hilaire, Gilles Saint-Pierre, Marcel Saint-Pierre, Claude Samson, Luc Samson, Michèle Saulnier, Alain Saumier, Maurice Savard, Clément Séguin, Daniel Séguin, Bertrand Simard, Penny Simpson, Eric Skup and Vivian Skup.
My colleagues and I will name them all today.
On the night of October 16, 1970, alone, 50 years ago, more than 450 people were arrested and detained under the War Measures Act. Ottawa has never released an official list of those arrested during that raid.
The invocation of the War Measures Act resulted in 32,000 warrantless searches. Of the 500 individuals who were arrested, 90% were released without being charged. As well, 95% of those who were charged were eventually acquitted or had their charges dropped.
In 1977, the Government of Quebec set up the Keable commission on police operations in Quebec. Its 451-page report revealed that, in 1970 and the years that followed, RCMP officers had planned and carried out a campaign of surveillance and provocation of organizations with ties to separatist groups.
The report emphasized the RCMP's illegal actions, including attacks, arson, theft and bogus communications. It was a large-scale operation designed to instill a permanent climate of fear in the community. I would note that Ottawa refused to co-operate with the commission. Is it any surprise that 50 years later, in 2020, we are met with deafening silence from Canada's political class?
The War Measures Act was adopted in 1914. Other than during the two world wars, it was invoked just once, in October 1970, in peacetime, as though the events of that October could be compared to the two huge, deadly global conflicts that marked the 20th century. In October 1970, the act was actually invoked before Minister Pierre Laporte was killed.
Under the War Measures Act, a person could be arrested and detained for 21 days, and searches could be carried out without a warrant and without just cause. Rights and freedoms were suspended.
In 1970, there were 290 bombings a month, on average, in the United States, and in 1969, France was grappling with the Algeria issue and bombs were going off in its cities, yet neither country responded with anything close to the War Measures Act.
Ottawa justified the War Measures Act on the grounds of an apprehended insurrection. If a coup was brewing in Quebec, surely Canada's intelligence services should have—