Télesphore Fournier Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Honourable
Télesphore Fournier
Honorific-Suffix:PC
Constituency Mp:Bellechasse
Parliament:Canadian
Predecessor:Napoléon Casault
Successor:Joseph-Goderic Blanchet
Term Start:1870
Term End:1875
Office2:Member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec for Montmagny
Predecessor2:Louis-Henri Blais
Successor2:François Langelier
Term Start2:1871
Term End2:1873
Office3:Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
Nominator3:Alexander Mackenzie
Predecessor3:None (new position)
Successor3:Désiré Girouard
Term Start3:September 30, 1875
Term End3:September 12, 1895
Birth Date:5 August 1823
Birth Place:Saint-François-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud, Lower Canada
Death Place:Ottawa, Ontario
Spouse:Hermine Demers
Party:Liberal
Otherparty:Quebec Liberal Party
Children:Nine
Cabinet:Minister of Inland Revenue (1873–1874)
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada (1874–1875)
Postmaster General (1875)

Télesphore Fournier, (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.

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