James Cross, British commissioner kidnapped during October Crisis, has died at 99: report

W5 Archive: James Cross on Sept. 25, 1971 The British trade commissioner speaks with W5’s Michael Maclear a year after the October crisis, where he spent 6 weeks as a FLQ hostage.

Montreal — James Cross, the former British trade commissioner who was kidnapped by the FLQ over 50 years ago during the October Crisis, has reportedly died.

Cross died Jan. 6 at age 99, according to a CBC report citing his son-in-law. A spokesperson for the British High Commissioner in Montreal told CTV that the commissioner is still trying to reach Cross's family to confirm his death.

Cross was seized at gunpoint in his home in Montreal on Oct. 5, 1970, as his wife watched. He was bundled into a car and taken to a house where he spent his days in handcuffs, allowed to read and watch TV but not see the faces of his captors.

He remained there for two months before authorities discovered his whereabouts and arranged for him to be freed. Some FLQ members were allowed safe passage to Cuba.

A transcript of an interview with him in the immediate aftermath of his release came to light nearly 50 years later.

Cross said, in a discussion recorded while on his flight back to the UK, that he hadn't feared death during the ordeal as much as he feared

"Funnily enough, [I] came to the conclusion I wasn't afraid of death," Cross said, though he hated the idea of being strangled in particular.

"But what I was worried all the time was about my wife because what I was then particularly worried about was her financial situation," he told those on the airplane.

"And I composed two letters, in my mind only. One was a final testament to my wife saying you know, how much I loved her and everything. The other was a letter to Mr. Trudeau appealing to him to do something for her."

Cross spoke to media several times in the years since the October Crisis.

--With files from The Canadian Press