The 1970 October Crisis stunned the government, which found itself with inadequate information as to the nature and scope of Quebec separatism. The government requested the RCMP to undertake a "proactive" strategy in this area - to try and get advance information as to the intentions and activities of nationalist organizations and, if possible, to prevent or "counter" disruptive acts. This the Security Service proceeded to do. It embarked on an extensive campaign of intelligence-gathering, infiltration, harassment and disruption directed at virtually all stripes of nationalist sentiment in Quebec. In many circumstances, the Service committed clearly illegal acts. Three of the most spectacular examples were: the burning down of a barn to prevent a meeting of militant nationalists and American radicals; a break-in at the offices of a Montreal left-wing news agency, followed by the theft and destruction of some of their files; and a break-in and theft of the membership lists of the Parti Québécois. Operations such as these had not, the McDonald Commission found, been ordered by the government. They were generated from within the Service in response to government directions to find out more about separatism. Quite aside from being illegal, these operations showed a lack of discrimination between true threats and legitimate dissent. None had any major effect on the organizations targeted, and none brought in intelligence of much importance.
