Mysteries in the Archives

1967: De Gaulle in Quebec (2x3)

Air date: Nov 17, 2010

It is July 24, 1967, just after 7:30 p.m. Charles de Gaulle speaks into the microphone on the balcony of the city hall of the French-speaking Canadian metropolis Montreal: "Long live Quebec! Long live… free Quebec!" The statement by the French President at the time shocked the Anglo-Saxon world. De Gaulle immediately breaks off his trip to Canada and returns to Paris as quickly as possible – by plane and not by ship, as on the outward journey. Why did de Gaulle travel to Canada by sea in the first place? And why had he first stopped in the overseas territory of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon? But above all: what was the slogan of the separatists from the Quebec region doing in a speech by the French President? And another curiosity: the microphones on the balcony of Montreal City Hall had already been taken down and were only set up again shortly before de Gaulle's arrival. Calculated provocation on his part? If so, for what purpose? And what are the consequences?