Télesphore Fournier

Télesphore Fournier, PC (August 5, 1823 – May 10, 1896) was a Canadian politician, lawyer, and judge of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Born in Saint-François-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud, Lower Canada (now Quebec), the son of Guillaume Fournier and Marie-Archange Morin, he was called to the bar in 1846. On July 22, 1857, he married Hermine-Eloïse Demers, and they had nine children: seven daughters and two sons.

From 1855 to 1859, he was the co-owner and co-editor of the newspaper, Le National de Québec.

In an 1870 by-election, he was acclaimed as a Liberal Member of Parliament in the riding of Bellechasse. He was re-elected in 1872, 1873, and 1875. He held three ministerial positions: Minister of Inland Revenue (1873–1874), Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada (1874–1875), and Postmaster General (1875). He tabled the bill to create the Supreme Court of Canada in February 1875.

At that period of time, it was possible to be a Member of Parliament and a Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Quebec (pre-1968 designation of the (Quebec National Assembly) (MLA). He was an MLA in the riding of Montmagny from 1871 to 1873.

He was appointed as one of the first judges of the Supreme Court of Canada on September 30, 1875. Four years later, his wife died, and his eldest daughter then kept house. He retired on September 12, 1895, and died on May 10, 1896, at the age of 72.

The house he lived in from 1877 until 1882 is now the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Ottawa.

References

• Télesphore Fournier – Parliament of Canada biography
• Supreme Court of Canada Biography
• "Télesphore Fournier". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2005. 
• "Biography". Dictionnaire des parlementaires du Québec de 1792 à nos jours (in French). National Assembly of Quebec. 
• February 1875 House of Commons Debates on the 1875 Statute purporting to Establish the Supreme Court of Canada, excerpted from Debates of the House of Commons of the Dominion of Canada. Reported and Edited by A.M. Burgess, Vol. I.--Session 1875. Ottawa. Printed by C. W. Mitchell, "Free Press" Office, Elgin Street. 1875.
• "GeneaNET - Télesphore Fournier"

Postmasters General Campbell O'Connor Macdonald Fournier Huntington Langevin Campbell O'Connor Campbell O'Connor Carling Campbell McLelan Carling (acting) Haggart Caron Taillon Mulock Aylesworth Lemieux Béland Pelletier Casgrain Blondin Belley Murphy Manion Veniot Sauvé Gobeil Elliott McLarty Power Ilsley (acting) Mulock Bertrand Rinfret Côté Pinard (acting) Lapointe Hamilton MacLean (acting) Fairclough Denis Nicholson Tremblay Côté Kierans Côté Ouellet Mackasey Blais Lamontagne Fraser Ouellet1 1The office of Postmaster General was abolished when the Post Office Department became a Crown Corporation known as the Canada Post Corporation on October 16, 1981.

Ministers of Justice and Attorneys General Macdonald Dorion Smith (acting) Fournier Blake Laflamme Campbell Thompson Tupper Daly (acting) Dickey Mowat Mills Fitzpatrick Aylesworth Doherty Bennett Gouin Lapointe Guthrie (acting) Patenaude Lapointe Guthrie Geary Lapointe Michaud (acting) St. Laurent Ilsley St. Laurent Garson Fulton Fleming Chevrier Favreau McIlraith (acting) Cardin Trudeau Turner Lang Basford Lang Lalonde Flynn Chrétien MacGuigan Johnston Crosbie Hnatyshyn Clark (acting) Lewis Campbell Blais Rock McLellan Cauchon Cotler Toews Nicholson MacKay Wilson-Raybould

Ministers of Inland Revenue Ministers of Inland Revenue (1867–1892) Howland Campbell (acting) Morris Tupper O'Connor Gibbs Fournier Geoffrion Laflamme Cauchon Laurier Baby Aikins Costigan Controllers of Inland Revenue (1892–1897) Wood Prior de Lotbinière Ministers of Inland Revenue (1897–1918) de Lotbinière Bernier Brodeur Templeman Nantel Blondin Patenaude Sévigny Sifton† †The offices of Minister of Customs and Minister of Inland Revenue were amalgamated by Order in Council dated May 18, 1918.