Mario Bachand

François Mario Bachand, born in Montreal March 24, 1944, was a member of the first (1963) wave of the FLQ (Front de Libération du Québec).

[edit] Political history

After a time in prison for his FLQ-related activities, Bachand became politically active in Montreal, founding several activist, leftist movements. He was an effective organizer, and was largely responsible for organizing the McGill-français demonstration of March, 1969. He was close friends with Jacques Lanctôt, who in 1970 would lead the Liberation Cell in the kidnapping of British diplomat James Cross, the event that initiated the October Crisis.

Bachand and Lanctôt were close friends with a young man born in France, Richard Bros. On 22 November, 1970, during the October Crisis, days before the Liberation Cell released their hostage, Bros would die in a London police cell, reportedly a suicide. In April 1969 Bachand fled to Havana, where he met up with other FLQ who had sought refuge in Cuba, including Pierre Charette, Alain Allard and Raymond Villeneuve. Bachand was very much a socialist, and did not view Quebec nationalism, particularly its Parti Québécois manifestation, very positively. This brought him in conflict with certain other FLQ who were more nationalist and decidedly to the right politically, such as Raymond Villeneuve and Denis Lamoureux.

In June, 1970 he left Cuba for Paris. He was found shot to death in the Paris suburb of St. Ouen on March 29, 1971.

McLoughlin, Michael "Last Stop, Paris: the assassination of Mario Bachand and the death of the FLQ" (Viking: Toronto, 1998)
Radio-Canada program Enjeu, 27 March 1997.