Jacques Lanctot

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Jacques Lanctot (born November 5, 1945, Montreal, Quebec, Canada) was an important member of the violent Quebec separatist group the FLQ.

Lanctot joined the Front de Liberation du Quebec (FLQ) terrorist group in 1963 at the age of 17 and was involved in several violent demonstrations in Quebec during the 1960s along with his sister, Louise Lanctot.

In 1966 a secret eight-page document entitled "Revolutionary Srategy and the Role of the Avant-Garde" was prepared by the FLQ outlining its long-term strategy of successive waves of robberies, violence, bombings and kidnappings, culminating in insurrection and revolution. The goal of the group was to free Quebec from a Canada they viewed as oppressive and capitalistic. Like most of the FLQ Lanctot was an avowed Marxist.

In 1968, Lanctot, a member of the FLQ's Liberation cell, met Paul Rose, leader of the Chenier Cell.

As a member of the Liberation Cell of the FLQ he was partners with:

• Jacques Cossette-Trudel
• Louise Lanctot (Mrs. Louise Cossette-Trudel)
• Marc Carbonneau
• Yves Langlois (aka Pierre Seguin)
• Nigel Barry Hamer (his participation discovered in 1980)

Lanctot was involved in the kidnapping of the British High Commissioner, James Richard Cross, on October 5, 1970, sparking the October Crisis. Lanctot and his group held James Cross hostage, taking his photo and sending it to police with a list of demands that included money and the release of other convicted terrorists. The terrorists advised authorities that Cross will be executed and further threats to Cross' life were delivered to several radio stations along with the terrorists demands. On October 10, their counterparts in the Chenier Cell kidnapped the Quebec Government's Labour Minister, Pierre Laporte, who shortly thereafter was found strangled to death and stuffed in the trunk of a car.

On December 3, 1970, Lanctot and the four other known FLQ members who had kidnapped James Cross negotiated his release in exchange for a flight to Cuba. Cross was unharmed and reported being well treated by his captors. Later, he secretly left Cuba and went to live in Paris, France.

Jacques Lanctot returned from exile in Paris on January 11, 1979. He was arraigned in Court and released on bail pending his trial. He was also charged with the February 1970 conspiracy to kidnap Moshe Golem, the Israeli trade commissioner to Canada. He was sentenced to one year in jail for these crimes.

After serving his sentence he reentered Quebec society and became a successful book publisher.