Henry Nathan, Jr.
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Henry Nathan, Jr. (September 3, 1842 – February 5, 1914) was the first Jewish Canadian to be elected to the House of Commons. Born in London, England, Nathan was one of two MPs elected to represent the British Columbia riding of Victoria in the Canadian general election of 1872. They had won by acclamation special byelections held the year before to fill the newly-created House of Commons seats upon British Columbia's admission to Confederation (in those byelections the riding was named Victoria District) . The other representative for Victoria was B.C.'s Father of Confederation, Amor De Cosmos who was simultaneously Premier of that province until 1874. The third-place also-ran was Thomas Beaven, who was to become the sixth Premier of British Columbia ten years later.
Like De Cosmos, Nathan had previously been part of British Columbia's delegation to Ottawa to negotiate the terms of B.C.'s entry into Confederation.
Once in Parliament, Nathan supported the government of Sir John A. Macdonald. This strained his relationship with De Cosmos, who had become a supporter of MacDonald's opponent, Liberal Alexander Mackenzie. As a result, Nathan took to calling de Cosmos "Cupid" in private letters (de Cosmos' name roughly translates to "Lover of the Universe").
The byelection of 1871 was held to return members from newly admitted British Columbia to the 1st Parliament of Canada that had been elected four years earlier following the momentous occasion of Confederation. With Nathan joining that Parliament, the multicultural nature of the Canadian nation was firmly established.
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| Parliament of Canada | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by None |
Member of Parliament for Victoria District 1871–1872 |
Succeeded by Merged into Victoria |
| Preceded by Merged from Victoria District |
Member of Parliament for Victoria 1872–1874 |
Succeeded by Francis James Roscoe |
