Jacques Cossette-Trudel (February 15, 1947 – March 15, 2023) was a French Canadian screenwriter and political activist who, as a 23 year-old, was a member of the FLQ (Cellule Front de Liberation du Québec).
Soon after, Cossette-Trudel's views became more extreme and he joined the Front de libération du Québec, whose members were responsible for a decade of radical manifestos, bombings and armed robberies in the Province of Quebec.
During what became known as the October Crisis, as the leader of the FLQ's Liberation Cell, on October 5, 1970, Jacques Cossette-Trudel along with his wife Louise, her brother Jacques Lanctôt, Yves Langlois, Nigel Hamer, and Marc Carbonneau abducted James Cross, the British Trade Commissioner, from his Montreal home, demanding the release of 27 convicted FLQ militants and the publication of the group's political manifesto.
Believing many of their fellow citizens would join an uprising, the goal of the FLQ was to create an independent socialist state based on the ideals of Fidel Castro's Cuba and the Algerian revolution.
Since divorced from his wife, Jacques Cossette-Trudel has made a living as a communication counsellor in provincial health and social institutions.
According to a 2000 interview he gave to Radio-Canada television, Jacques Cossette-Trudel has always stayed very connected politically and still believed in an independent, multicultural and socialist state of Quebec.