the Separatism primer: the cells reoriented from Ottawa to O.N.A.N.
Québec’s anti-O.N.A.N. and thus -U.S. Séparatisteurs, the different terrorist cells formed when Ottawa had been the foe, proved to be not a very nice bunch at all.
Context
The book's clearest statement of the insurgency's pivot: the cells "formed when Ottawa had been the foe" simply re-aimed at O.N.A.N. — "anti-O.N.A.N. and thus -U.S." The Separatist apparatus predates the Reconfiguration; the gift merely gave it a bigger, southern enemy, converting an internal Canadian quarrel into a continental one. This is why the A.F.R. fights the U.S. with tools honed against Ottawa.