Georges Schoeters

Who is Georges Schoeters?

George Schoeters was one of the founders and a leader of the Front de libération du Québec terrorist group in 1963. During World War II, Schoeter worked as a courier for the Belgian Resistance, thus beginning his clandestine career.

Born in Antwerp, Belgium, Schoeters emigrated to Montreal, Canada in 1951 where he signed up for courses at the Université de Montréal and as a left-wing activist, recruited others on campus. A person who supported the idea of armed revolution, in the late 1950s he went to Algeria for training with the National Liberation Front. In the early 1960s, he joined the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale, a Quebec political organization dedicated to the promotion of Quebec independence from Canada. Through the RIN, Schoeters met Raymond Villeneuve and Gabriel Hudon, left-wing radicals who supported his belief in armed revolution.

An admirer of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, Schoeters made repeated visits to Cuba through the Institute of Agrarian Reform in the early 1960s. Returning to Quebec Georges Schoeters, Raymond Villeneuve, and Gabriel Hudon formed the organization, the Front de libération du Québec.