Michel Chartrand | Quebec nationalist, 93

Michel Chartrand, 93, a popular labor leader and staunch advocate for Quebec's independence from Canada, has died.

He died April 12 of kidney cancer, daughter Suzanne Chartrand said Tuesday.

A colorful and often brazen figure, Mr. Chartrand's support for the violent separatist group Front de liberation du Quebec led to his 1970 arrest under Canada's War Measures Act. The law gave the government sweeping powers of arrest and detention without trial. He spent four months in jail.

His ardent defense of the French language, which is dominant in Quebec, was apparent early on and he was kicked out of the military in his youth for refusing to sign forms that were written only in English.

In his late teens, he spent two years as a Catholic monk and became involved in the labor movement during the 1949 asbestos strike - one of the most violent in Quebec's history. In the decades that followed, he was arrested several times while picketing.

Born in Montreal on Dec. 20, 1916, Mr. Chartrand was the 13th of 14 children. - AP