Date Published:
July 2005

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Télesphore Fournier

Fournier, Télesphore (1824-1896), politician and judge, was born at St. François, Montmagny county, Lower Canada, on August 5, 1824 , the son of Guillaume Fournier of Bécancour. He was educated at Nicolet College, and was called to the bar of Lower Canada in 1846. He became one of the leaders of the parti rouge; and from 1856 to 1858 he was one of the editors of Le National, the French-Canadian Liberal newspaper. After several unsuccessful attempts to enter parliament, he was elected in 1870 to represent Bellechasse in the Canadian House of Commons, and in 1871 to represent Montmagny in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec. His seat in the Quebec Assembly he resigned in 1873, when he was appointed minister of inland revenue in the Dominion government of Alexander Mackenzie. In 1874 he exchanged this portfolio for that of minister of justice, and later for that of postmaster-general; and in 1875 he was appointed a judge of the newly created Supreme Court of Canada. He resigned from the bench in 1895, and he died on May 10, 1896. In 1857 he married Hermine, daughter of Wilbrod Deniers; and by her he had nine children. See T. Rinfret, Le juge Télesphore Fournier (Revue Trimestrielle Canadienne, 1926).

Source  : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. II, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 411p., p.