Believing many others would follow in an uprising, the goal of the FLQ was to create an independent state based on the ideals of Fidel Castro's Cuba.
Lanctôt, with the help of her husband and other members of the "Liberation Cell," held James Cross hostage, taking his photo and sending it to police with a list of demands that included money and the release of other convicts.
His release was negotiated and on December 3, 1970, Lanctôt with her husband and child, plus the three other known members of her cell, were granted their request for safe passage to Cuba by the Government of Canada after approval by Castro.
Over the years, all of the Front de libération du Québec members wanted to return to Canada and began secret negotiations through the reigning government Parti Québécois to achieve that goal.
Divorced from her husband, during the times when the Parti Québécois has been in government, she has been employed by numerous Quebec government-funded institutions, including as a researcher for the Collège de Maisonneuve, the Université du Québec à Montréal, Sainte-Justine Hospital, Université de Montréal health administration department, and the "Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec".