Rhéal Mathieu

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Rhéal Mathieu (born 1947) is a Quebecer convicted of involuntary manslaughter and a member of the Quebec terrorist group, the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ).

In 1965, Rhéal Mathieu became a member of the FLQ. With Pierre Vallières, one of the leaders of the movement, Mathieu became a member of the Central Committee of the FLQ. He took part in the decision to send a package with a bomb to the French-Canadian-owned Lagrenade Shoe company in Montreal to end a strike that had lasted for more than a year.

The company was advised by phone that there was a bomb in the building 30 minutes in advance but they did not react. The bomb exploded at 1 PM and killed Therese Morin, the company’s office manager. Mathieu was arrested in 1966. In 1967, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years in prison for manslaughter in the case of Therese Morin. As there were further accusations, the total of his sentence amounted to 9 years and 2 months. During the October Crisis of 1970, Mathieu's terrorist associates in the Liberation Cell of the FLQ kidnapped the British Trade Commissioner James Cross and, as part of their ransom, demanded Mathieu's release from prison. The government did not accede to the terrorists' demands. Mathieu was never granted parole and served his sentence to the end.

Following his release from prison, Mathieu kept working actively for Quebec independence from Canada. In 2000, he was accused of complicity after the fact with a group known as the "Brigade d'autodéfense du français" (BAF). This group firebombed companies incorporated with English names then expanded their terrorism to the firebombing of a church where the English-rights group Alliance Quebec was scheduled to hold a fundraising supper.

In 2001, Rhéal Mathieu was convicted by a jury of complicity after the fact in the attemps to firebomb Second Cup coffee shops in Montreal. They had targeted Canada's largest specialty coffee retailer because of the company's use of its incorporated English name Second Cup. For this offence, a judge sentenced Rhéal Mathieu to one month in jail to be served concurrently with six month sentence for illegal possession of two unregistered firearms.