“Happy-Go-Lucky Fellow”: Lone-Actor Terrorism, Masculinity, and the 1966 Bombing on Parliament Hill in Ottawa

Abstract

On 18 May 1966, Paul Joseph Chartier blew himself up outside of the Canadian House of Commons in Ottawa. His target had been members of parliament, but he succeeded in killing only himself. The bombing received widespread attention at the time and prompted an investigation involving both the rcmp and fbi. Using the more than 1,300-page file compiled by the police, I stress the importance of a historical approach to the study of terrorism as the article examines Chartier’s deed in the context of lone-actor terrorism, both within Canada and internationally. Ultimately, I conclude that the reason Chartier carried out the attack is unknowable. However, I argue that a strong correlation existed between the motivation for Chartier’s act of extreme violence and masculinity, a connection often ignored in scholarship about terrorism, especially lone-actor terrorism. Chartier fell considerably short of the hegemonic masculine ideals of postwar Canada, which he blamed, in populist fashion, on a corrupt Canadian political system. In the end, he turned to a traditional response by some men, both in Canada and internationally, an act of extreme violence, to salvage something from his life by striking back against those he blamed for his failures.