5 October 1970

Assessing the substance of the FLQ demands was a high priority for the federal government, one that included weighing the threat to Cross’ life and the government's legal obligations. The federal government chose a “somewhat blurred” initial position to buy time with the FLQ and avoid overstepping with the government of Quebec. Some of the FLQ demands, however, clearly required federal action. Cross was a British diplomat in Canada, so they had to consider the British position during negotiations and international legal obligations to foreign diplomats. Likewise, the FLQ's demand that prisoners be released to Cuba or Algeria raised “a number of political and legal considerations.”