The October Crisis of 1970: Human Rights Abuses Under the War Measures Act

Abstract

In an attempt to revisit and stimulate debate on the long-term ramifications of the October Crisis, the following essay examines the crisis from a unique perspective: human rights. The literature on the crisis, particularly in English, is dominated by political histories and testimonials, as well as assumptions surrounding the public’s response to the use of emergency powers. Such accounts fail to convey the complex reaction to the use of the War Measures Act in peacetime. The author argues that the crisis was not limited to Quebec and Ottawa, and that the War Measures Act was responsible for extensive human rights abuses across the country. Moreover, the abuses committed under the act engendered a small but vocal opposition across the country. The essay begins by placing the crisis in the context of radical social protest movements and police abuses of individual rights in the 1960s, followed by a detailed account of the crisis and human rights abuses. The final section explores the long-term implications of the crisis.