A woman whose job is representing the Quebec government in Algeria has been a model citizen for more than 35 years, despite her 1965 criminal conviction in the failed plot to bomb three U.S. monuments, says a spokesman for the International Affairs Minister.
Michele Duclos, who has held the position since last June, was convicted in 1965 in a failed attempt to blow up the Statue of Liberty, the Washington monument and the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.
Louise Beaudoin, Quebec's Minister of International Affairs, recently named Ms. Duclos to her current post, which is based in Quebec but has her representing the province's interests in Algeria.
Ms. Beaudoin was unavailable for comment yesterday, but her spokesman Martin Roy said that since Ms. Duclos's conviction she has occupied numerous positions in the Quebec government. He said she was first hired in June, 1976, under the Liberal regime of the late premier Robert Bourassa.
"She can now enter the United States at will," Mr. Roy said. "She has been a model citizen and has worked in the civil service under both the [Parti Québécois]and the Liberal governments. . . . If the Liberals had any problems with her they would have certainly acted when Ms. Duclos worked in the Quebec government's Toronto and Mexico City delegations during their time in office."
When Ms. Duclos was 26, she was arrested with 30 sticks of dynamite and three blasting caps in a car that was driven from Montreal to New York. The box of explosives was placed in the trunk of her car by François Dorlot, who later married Ms. Beaudoin.
Mr. Dorlot was held for questioning by police and was not charged. He later told the court that he thought the box of dynamite was books. Three years later Mr. Dorlot received a $4,500 Canada Council grant to study in France. When questions about Mr. Dorlot's possible ties with the French intelligence service were raised in the House of Commons in 1968, then secretary of state Gérard Pelletier defended Mr. Dorlot, saying he was "a very brilliant student."
The plan that included Ms. Duclos was part of an adventurous, ill-conceived plot prepared by sympathizers of the Front de libération du Québec and the American pro-Castro group Black Liberation Front. It included placing bombs at the White House and the Capitol. A police undercover agent and informants inside the terrorist organizations uncovered the plot.
Ms. Duclos received a five-year suspended sentence in New York for her role in the aborted coup after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of transporting dynamite without a licence.
Once she agreed to testify against three American associates linked to the plot Ms. Duclos was released on probation after spending only a few weeks in jail. She did not return phone calls yesterday.
Rhéal Séguin