A granite monument to honour Quebec politician Pierre Laporte was unveiled Sunday in Saint-Lambert, on Montreal's south shore.

A monument to Pierre Laporte is located in a park south of Montreal, blocks away from where the Quebec minister was abducted in 1970. (CBC)Laporte was the provincial labour minister when he was kidnapped at gunpoint by the Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) during the October Crisis in 1970.

He was later murdered and his body was found in the trunk of a car 40 years ago Sunday.

Quebec Premier Jean Charest was on hand for the ceremony, along with former cabinet ministers and Laporte's widow, Françoise.

The monument is in the St-Lawrence Seaway park, not from the home Laporte was abducted from.

Laporte's face is engraved in the stone, along with the dates of his birth and death.

Jean Laporte, the murdered politician's son who was 11 when his father died, said the monument provokes mixed emotions.

"But I'm proud that we finally have a picture of my father in Saint-Lambert," he said. "It's a nice commemoration for him."

Charest underlined the importance of remembering how Laporte died.

"Pierre Laporte's sacrifice, his death, was a great injustice and we need to remember that so it never happens again," he said.

Media coverage causes stir

Some of Laporte's friends expressed discomfort over the recent media coverage surrounding the 40th anniversary of the October Crisis, particularly an interview that Radio-Canada did with Paul Rose, the man convicted for Laporte's murder.

"Watching the coverage, I had the impression that the victim had become the aggressor and vice versa," said Raymond Garneau, Quebec's finance minister during the October Crisis.

On Saturday, sovereignty group La Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste unveiled another October Crisis monument, this one marking the 40th anniversary of the imposition of the War Measures Act, which gave police unprecedented powers to arrest and detain people without charge.

The federal government invoked the act after Laporte and British diplomat James Cross were kidnapped by the FLQ. Cross was later released.

Under the War Measures Act, 497 Quebecers were arrested and 62 were eventually charged with a crime. Only 18 were convicted of being associated with the FLQ.