In 1963, the FLQ was organized and trained in terrorism by Georges Schoeters, an itinerant Belgian revolutionary and Marxist, whose hero was Che Guevara. At least two of the FLQ members had also received guerrilla training in selective assassination from Palestinian commandos.
From 1963 to 1970, the FLQ committed over 200 violent crimes, including robberies of dynamite, bombings, bank hold-ups and at least three violent deaths by FLQ bombs and two murders by gunfire.
In 1966 a secret eight-page document entitled "Revolutionary Strategy 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.
On October 10, 1970, Bernard Lortie’s Chenier cell of the terrorism group kidnapped and murdered Quebec Vice-Premier and Cabinet Minister, Pierre Laporte. This crime was part of a terrorist insurrection referred to as the October Crisis.
Besides Lortie, the Chenier Cell of the FLQ terrorist group consisted of Francis Simard, the cell leader Paul Rose and his brother, Jacques Rose.
On November 6, 1970, Bernard Lortie was arrested when the police raided the hiding place of the FLQ’s Chenier cell. Although the other three members escaped the raid, they were later captured in St. Luc, Quebec in late December. All four members were charged with the kidnapping and murder of Pierre Laporte.
For his part in the kidnapping and murder, Bernard Lortie was sentenced to 20 years in jail. He was granted parole after seven years.