Sir Antoine-Aimé Dorion | |
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 The Honourable Sir Antoine-Aimé Dorion December 1873; Topley Studio, Library and Archives Canada | |
| Born | (1818-01-17)January 17, 1818 |
| Died | May 31, 1891(1891-05-31) (aged 73) |
| Resting place | Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery |
| Occupation | French-Canadian Leader ofle Parti Rouge (reformers)Opposed to Confederation. |
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Sir Antoine-Aimé DorionPC (January 17, 1818 – May 31, 1891) was aFrench Canadian politician andjurist.[1]
Dorion was born inSte-Anne-de-la-Pérade into a family with liberal values that had been sympathetic to thePatriotes in 1837–1838. His father, merchantPierre-Antoine Dorion, was a representative of the Patriote party in theLegislative Assembly of Lower Canada from 1830 to 1838.
After studies at theNicolet seminary from 1830 to 1837, in his twenty-second year went toMontreal to read law withCôme-Séraphin Cherrier, an eminent lawyer with whom he retained a lasting friendship. On the 6th of January 1842 he was admitted to the bar of the province, became the partner of M. Cherrier, and in the course of a few years attained the highest rank in his profession.[2]
Dorion descended from aLiberal family which from early days had supported theReform party in Canada. In addition to his father, his maternal grandfather represented the county of Saint Maurice in the Legislative Assembly from 1819 to 1830. At the time that Dorion commenced the study of law, Canada was entering a struggle betweenLower Canada andUpper Canada for a balance of representation. Although a decisive political victory had been gained, and aresponsible government formed, byLouis-Hippolyte Lafontaine andRobert Baldwin in 1848, they did not press for an immediate overthrow of existing institutions, and in 1851, the administration was handed over toFrancis Hincks andAugustin-Norbert Morin.[2]
The elections of 1854 had brought new reformist blood into the ranks of the Liberal party. Dorion was elected as member of the assembly for the province of Canada for the city of Montreal, and was chosen as leader. It seemed that the coalition government underAllan MacNab had clarified the situation, but by 1856 Upper Canada had increased, and it contributed a larger share to the revenue, and demanded proportionate representation. Dorion understood the true principle offederation as applicable to Canada, but he did not pursue this idea, and in fact his following was never sufficiently strong to enable him to give effect to the sound measures he was so capable of formulating.[2]
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In 1858 Dorion served asCo-Premier of the Province of Canada withClear Grit leaderGeorge Brown (Canadian politician) but the government fell within three days.[3] From 1863 to 1864 Dorion again served as Co-Premier, this time withJohn Sandfield Macdonald as well as taking the position of Attorney-General, but refused to participate in theGreat Coalition government formed in 1864 by Brown,John A. Macdonald andGeorge-Étienne Cartier. Following theQuebec Conference of 1864 he denounced the proposedCanadian Confederation and led the opposition in Lower Canada to the project.He was also the leader of the Parti Rouge and thought the provinces would lose their power if Confederation was put into action. He disapproved that the colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island were uniting under a central government. Dorion expressed his rejection of confederation through a manifesto in 1864, multiple articles from 1865 to 1867, and his attendance of opposition meetings in Lower Canada.[4]
Nevertheless, when Confederation became a reality, Dorion won a seat in the newHouse of Commons of Canada asLiberalMember of Parliament forHochelaga. He was re-elected three times in succession forNapierville and served asMinister of Justice in the Liberal government ofAlexander Mackenzie from 7 November 1873 and during the six months that he was in office passed the Electoral Law of 1874 and the Controverted Elections Act.[5] Dorion was appointed byJohn A. Macdonald to the parliamentary committee to investigate allegations related to thePacific Scandal in 1873.[6] On 1 June 1874 he was namedchief justice of theCourt of Queen's Bench ofQuebec.[7] In 1875, he was offered a position as a puisne justice on the newly createdSupreme Court of Canada, however Dorion rejected the position believing the position would be a decline in his legal status.[8]
After his death in 1891, he was entombed at theNotre Dame des Neiges Cemetery in Montreal.[9]
| 1867 Canadian federal election:Hochelaga | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||||
| Liberal | Antoine-Aimé Dorion | 1,312 | 50.44 | |||||
| Unknown | J. Lanouette | 1,289 | 49.56 | |||||
| Total valid votes | 2,601 | 100.00 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 3,448 | |||||||
| Source: Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1871[10] | ||||||||
In 1878, Dorion was created aKnight Bachelor.[5]
The Township Municipality of Dorion in theOutaouais region of Quebec, Canada, was named in his honour (but renamed toCayamant).
In 1848 Dorion married Iphigénie, the daughter of Dr. Jean Baptiste Trestler and Eulalie Delisle of Montreal.[2]
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)CS1 maint: postscript (link){{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Browning, Thomas Blair (1901). "Dorion, Antoine Aimé". InLee, Sidney (ed.).Dictionary of National Biography (1st supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co. This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Doughty, Arthur George (1911). "Dorion, Sir Antoine Aimé". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 428–429.| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Sir Antoine-Aimé Dorion | Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada - Canada East 1858 | Succeeded by with SirGeorge-Étienne Cartier |
| Preceded by | Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada - Canada East 1863–1864 | Succeeded by with SirÉtienne-Paschal Taché |
| Preceded by riding created | Member of Parliament -Hochelaga 1867–1872 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament -Napierville 1872–1874 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Justice 1873–1874 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the United Provinces of Canada 1858–1861 | Succeeded by |
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| Other | |
