[5] He was the leader of the Chenier cell[6] of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), an armed group which was fighting what they considered the oppression of French Quebecers.

[citation needed] A member of the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale political party, Rose's involvement with radical groups began in 1968 after meeting Jacques Lanctôt, a member of the FLQ, during a rally against Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau at the Saint-Jean-Baptiste parade.

Believing many others would follow in an uprising, their goal was to have Quebec live up to the fate wished for it by the Lower Canada rebellions of 1837–8, namely to become an independent country.

"A coroner's inquest soon after the murder determined that Laporte had been strangled by a gold religious medal he wore around his neck.

"[11][12] However, the police officer who recorded the conversation told The Globe and Mail that Rose may have made the statement to cover up for another cell member.

Another version, less "drastic", says rather that this secretly recorded conversation was between Paul Rose's brother, Jacques, and his lawyer, Robert Lemieux.

Jacques Rose then told that Pierre Laporte was accidentally strangled during a struggle after he tried to escape while two of the kidnappers were about to release him.

[19] Khadir later withdrew the proposal, blaming anglophone media for nationalist hate-mongering, and claiming Rose had recanted and been rehabilitated.