Pierre Vallières (1972)

• 59%
• 1972
• Joyce Wieland

The subject of "Pierre Vallières" is Vallières himself, who was a vital figure within the separatist organization, the 'Front de libération du Québec' (FLQ). Vallières had become politicized at a young age having been born into a working class neighborhood in Montreal. In his early career he worked as journalist for La Press and Pierre Trudeau's liberal magazine Cité Libre, but as the FLQ movement gained momentum it was in 1966, while protesting the plight of the Québécois in front of the United Nations in New York, that he was arrested and jailed for four years on charges relating to FLQ violence. During his incarceration he wrote his impassioned and polemical book, 'Nègres Blancs d'Amerique' (White Niggers of America), where he wove his own personal narrative into a larger history of oppression, calling for armed action in the liberation of Quebec from Canada. After being convicted of manslaughter (which was later overturned in 1973) he was released on appeal in 1970.