Robert Lemieux

Robert Félix Lemieux (October 9, 1941 – January 21, 2008) was a Canadian lawyer. He served as an intermediary for the Front de libération du Québec cells and Canadian authorities during the October Crisis.

Early life Lemieux was the eldest of six children in a Radio-Canada technician's family. he went to work for O'Brien, Home, Hall, Nolan & Saunders.

Career Early association with the FLQ In 1966, he was asked to represent Robert Levesque, an early FLQ member who faced six charges of robbing and bombing an armoury. While legal wrangling over the case continued, Levesque spent two years in jail without trial. Though Levesque was eventually sentenced to seven years in prison, Lemieux was angered by the delays.

While defending FLQ terrorists Pierre Vallières and Charles Gagnon, he was fired from the law firm in January 1968. These negotiations collapsed upon the introduction of emergency measures under the War Measures Act. The charges were heard in court in February 1971, and were later withdrawn.

During his career as a lawyer for the FLQ, Lemieux defended more than 30 terrorists and represented the members of the Chenier cell, the group behind the kidnapping of Quebec cabinet minister Pierre Laporte, who was strangled. Lemieux argued in court that Laporte's death was accidental and suggested Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was partly responsible. "If Trudeau had not declared the War Measures Act, Pierre Laporte would never have died," Lemieux said.

Move to the North Shore By 1974, Lemieux was a pariah in Montreal legal circles, and subsequently decided to move to Quebec's North Shore, He continued to be, in his words, "a ferocious Quebec separatist." In reviewing his life and career, the Montreal Gazette observed, "Lemieux's views and associates were and are repugnant. But no one can doubt the sincerity of his beliefs."