Incident Date:
August 22, 1963 02:00
Incident Successful: Yes
Location: Saint Lawrence Seaway, Quebec Canada
Perpetrators: Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ)
Event Type: Bombing/Explosion
Weapon Type(s): Explosives/Bombs/Dynamite (Unknown Explosive Type)
Organization Type: Separatist,
Suicide Attack: No
Hoax: No
Violent Extremism:
Doubt Terror: No
Target Information
1- Transportation (Other than aviation)(Bridge/Car Tunnel)
Canadian Target: Yes
Canadian Victim:
Canadian Perpetrator:
By foreigners against foreign target(s) in Canada:
Victims: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries
Perpetrators: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries
Description: "08/22/1963: At 1:45 a.m., a pre-explosion warning was given from a Front de Liberation du Quebec (FLQ) spokesman stating that the list of two bombs would go off in ten minutes on the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) railway lift bridge across the St-Lawrence Seaway. A second bomb, the caller said, would go off on a downriver span of the bridge which handles vehicular traffic. No second bomb was found. The dynamite bomb was planted at the top of a 200-foot ladder on a section of the bridge. The explosion occurred shortly before 2 a.m. and resulted in a four-hour delay for Seaway traffic, disabling the bridge's lift mechanism, and leaving the bridge in an elevated position for two or three months. Painted letters in red, three feet high, were discovered in two locations on the bridge's superstructure. They spelled out FLQ. Despite the warning and the painted signs, the Surete provinciale noted that the bomb materials were different from those used by the FLQ in the spring wave of bombings, and that the person who placed the bomb was very familiar with the bridge mechanism, placing the bomb where it could do most damage. The police speculated that the incident was linked to recent disputes involving two seafarers' unions."
References: 1) "Kellett, A., Beanlands, B., Deacon, J., Jeffrey, H., & Lapalme, C. (1991). Terrorism in Canada 1960-1989, User Report no. 1990-16. Ottawa: Solicitor General Canada, National Security Coordination Centre, Police and Security Branch. p. 354."
2) "Ross, Jeffrey I. (1992). ATIC IV: Chronology of Domestic and International Terrorist Events in Canada, 1960-1990. Montreal, Qc: International Centre for Comparative Criminology. p. 25"
Attached Files: