Momentous for two reasons.
First off, it is the opening day of the full schedule of the NFL.
More importantly it is the 250th anniversary of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City, a battle that changed the face of the North American continent and the world in a matter of minutes.
To review, before the battle, the French were a major colonizer in the New World. After the battle, not so much. Fifty years after the fight the French presence in North America was pretty much spent.
In celebration of the anniversary a 24 hour event Moulin a paroles [word mill] will start at 3 o'clock Saturday afternoon reading key passages from the history of Quebec such as the song lyrics, information about the 1837-38 rebellion, the 1755 Acadian deportation and most controversially the Front de Liberation du Quebec's 1970 manifesto.
The FLQ were the small group of terrorists who kidnapped James Cross, a British diplomat and Pierre Laporte, a Quebec cabinet minister, in October of 1970, sending Canada into a state of emergency.
The reading of this manifesto is sure to cause controversy but, as reported by Kevin Dougherty in today's Montreal Gazette, Gilles Duceppe, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois, supports the reading on the basis of its historical value. He states that not reading it would be censorship, that those who are against it being read are pro censorship and he is right on the money there.
WFDS
I would say reading the FLQ manifesto should really be seen just from the historical point of view because even though this document is connected with cruel deeds, it is our past and knowing about it gives us a chance to learn from our mistakes. So no censorship, please! Lorne
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