Paul Rose
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Image:Paul Rose-Official from PDS.jpeg
- This is the article about the Quebecois figure. For the British politician, see Paul Rose (UK politician). For the British video games journalist and screenwriter, see Mr_Biffo.
Paul Rose, born October 16, 1943 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is a convicted murderer, a political commentator and a trade unionist. He was the leader of the Chenier cell of the Front de Libération du Quebec (FLQ) terrorist group whose members were responsible for a decade of bombings and armed robberies.
Biography
A member of the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale political party, Paul Rose's involvement with radical groups began in 1968 after meeting Jacques Lanctôt, a member of the FLQ, during an 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.
Image:PaulRoseterrorist.jpg 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 31, 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 Canadian Parole Board on December 20, 1982.
During the 1990s, he contributed to the monthly l'aut'journal. He was nominated New Democratic Party candidate for a Quebec riding in a federal election. In 1996, Rose was elected leader of the Parti de la démocratie socialiste. He currently works for the CSN labour union and remains a strong supporter of the Quebec independence movement.