Death threats target Quebec English rights group

A group that defends English speakers in the Outaouais has been threatened with violence if it continues promoting the rights of anglophones.

André Hurtibise, executive director of the Regional Association of West Quebecers, said the most recent of two threatening e-mails arrived Tuesday morning.

"It did read that this was our final warning in bold, capital letters. And that if this didn't cease, they would put a little lead in our heads — du plomb dans la tête," he said.

The e-mails in French claim to be from a group that calls itself the Ligue de Défense National, which describes itself as a "nouveau FLQ."

The front de libération du Québec was a Quebec separatist group that bombed Montreal in the 1960s and launched Canada into the October Crisis in 1970, when it kidnapped British trade commissioner James Cross and later killed Quebec cabinet minister Pierre Laporte.

Hurtibise said he has never heard of the Ligue de Défense National, but after reading its latest e-mail, he sent his staff home and called police.

Gatineau police said they are investigating the threats and are taking them seriously.

They added that they've increased patrols around the association's office.

Hurtibise said he thinks those behind the threats feel there is only one official language in Quebec, "which is French, and that we are infringing their rights. I guess their fear is that … the English people will overtake them, when in actuality, that's not at all what we want to do."

He said the threats will not affect his enthusiasm for defending the rights of anglophones.