Denis-Benjamin Papineau (November 13, 1789 – January 20, 1854) was
joint premier of the Province of Canada for
Canada East
Canada East (french: links=no, Canada-Est) was the northeastern portion of the United Province of Canada. Lord Durham's Report investigating the causes of the Upper and Lower Canada Rebellions recommended merging those two colonies. The new ...
from 1846 to 1848. His joint premiers for
Canada West during this period were
William Henry Draper and
Henry Sherwood
Henry Sherwood, (1807 – July 7, 1855) was a lawyer and Tory politician in the Province of Canada. He was involved in provincial and municipal politics. Born into a Loyalist family in Brockville in Augusta Township, Upper Canada, he stud ...
.
Papineau had various professions including
seigneur, seigneurial agent, bookseller, merchant, justice of the peace, office holder and politician.
Born in
Montreal, he was the son of
Joseph Papineau and Rosalie Cherrier. He studied at the
Petit Séminaire de Québec. He oversaw the operation of the
Seigneury of Petite-Nation, first for his father and later for his brother
Louis-Joseph; he also served as postmaster for the region. He also was a partner in a Montreal bookstore. He was named a justice of the peace for Montreal district. In 1822, he became seigneur for the fief of Plaisance. He was elected to the
Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada
The Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was the lower house of the legislature for the Province of Canada, which consisted of the former provinces of Lower Canada, then known as Canada East and later the province of Quebec, and Upper C ...
representing the
Ottawa district in Canada East in 1842 and served until the end of 1847. Besides serving as joint premier, he also was
Commissioner of Crown Lands and of public works from 1844 to 1847.
He died in Sainte-Angélique (
Papineauville
Papineauville is a town and municipality in the Outaouais region of Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of the Papineau Regional County Municipality. In 2001 its population was 2247.
The municipality is bordered on the north side by the Petite-Natio ...
), Lower Canada.
When he yielded to requests from
Denis-Benjamin Viger and
Sir Charles Metcalfe to accept an appointment on the Executive Council, Papineau was criticized by many French-Canadians, despite his family's association with reform. His brother Louis-Joseph Papineau had been leader of the reform movement and was exiled for a time for his role in the
Lower Canada Rebellion.
His son
Denis-Émery later represented the County of Ottawa in the Legislative Assembly.
References
External links
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Ancestry of Denis-Benjamin Papineau(in French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Papineau, Denis-Benjamin
1789 births
1854 deaths
Premiers of the Province of Canada
Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada East
Canadian justices of the peace