François Bourassa
Encyclopedia
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
farmer and political figure. He represented Saint-Jean
St. John's (electoral district)
St. John's was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1892.It was created by the British North America Act of 1867...
in the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
as a Liberal
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
member from 1867 to 1896.
He was born in Sainte-Marguerite-de-Blairfindie
L'Acadie, Quebec
L'Acadie is a town in the Montérégie region of Québec, Canada, on the west side of the Richelieu River, across from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec. It was about 30 miles from Montreal, and about the same distance from the United States border at the head of Lake Champlain...
, Lower Canada
Lower Canada
The Province of Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence...
in 1813. His father, also named François, was the first mayor of the town. He took part in the Lower Canada Rebellion
Lower Canada Rebellion
The Lower Canada Rebellion , commonly referred to as the Patriots' War by Quebeckers, is the name given to the armed conflict between the rebels of Lower Canada and the British colonial power of that province...
, was arrested but later released and later served as captain in the local militia. He settled at Saint-Jean and represented the town on the council for Chambly County. In 1854, he elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada
Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada
The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the legislature for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper Canada, then known as Canada West and later the...
for Saint-Jean as a member of the parti rouge
Parti rouge
The Parti rouge was formed in the Province of Quebec, around 1848 by radical French-Canadians inspired by the ideas of Louis-Joseph Papineau, the Institut canadien de Montréal, and the reformist movement led by the Parti patriote of the 1830s.The party was a successor to the Parti patriote...
; he served until Confederation
Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
, when he was elected to the federal parliament, although he opposed confederation. Bourassa spoke no English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. He retired from politics in 1896. He served as mayor of L'Acadie in 1858.
He died in Saint-Valentin
Saint-Valentin, Quebec
Saint-Valentin is a municipality in southern Quebec, Canada located in the administrative area of the Montérégie. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 478....
in 1898.
His brother Napoléon
Napoléon Bourassa
Napoléon Bourassa was a prominent Canadian architect, painter and writer who offices were located from Montreal, Quebec.-Early life and training:Born in L'Acadie, Quebec, he studied at Sulpicians College in Montreal...
was a Quebec painter, writer, sculptor and architect and his nephew Henri Bourassa
Henri Bourassa
Joseph-Napoléon-Henri Bourassa was a French Canadian political leader and publisher. He is seen by many as an ideological father of Canadian nationalism....
served in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec
Legislative Assembly of Quebec
The Legislative Assembly of Quebec was the name of the lower house of Quebec's legislature until 1968, when it was renamed the National Assembly of Quebec. At the same time, the upper house of the legislature, the Legislative Council, was abolished...
and the House of Commons.