Paul Rose (labour unionist)
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Paul Rose, born October 16, 1943 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is a political commentator and a trade unionist, who was convicted of murder and kidnapping of Quebec cabinet minister Pierre Laporte in 1971. He was the leader of the Chenier cell of the Front de Libération du Quebec (FLQ), a terrorist group whose members were also responsible for a decade of bombings and armed robberies.
[edit] Biography
Paul Abigal Rose was named Paul after his father, Paul Henply Rose. His second name came from his mother, Abigal, who was a very important part of his life.
A member of the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale political party, Rose's involvement with radical groups began in 1968 after meeting Jacques Lanctôt, a member of the FLQ, during a 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.
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 13, 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) National 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.
