David Mills, (March 18, 1831 – May 8, 1903) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician, author, poet and puisne justice of the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

. He was born in Palmyra, in southwestern

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(now

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

). His father, Nathaniel Mills, was one of the first settlers in the area. Mills served as superintendent of schools for Kent County from 1856 to 1865. He then attended the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

School of law, graduating with honors in 1867 with an LL.B degree. He published ''The Present and Future Political Aspects of Canada'' in 1860 and ''The Blunders of the Dominion Government in connection with the North-West Territory'' in 1871. Mills was first elected to the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Commo ...

as a Liberal

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(MP) in the 1867 federal election and re-elected in four subsequent votes until being defeated in the 1882 election. He was an opponent of dual representation (the practice in which someone could simultaneously be a member of parliament as well as a member of the

Quebec legislature The Quebec Legislature (officially Parliament of Quebec, french: Parlement du Québec) is the legislature of the province of Quebec, Canada. The legislature is made of two elements: the King of Canada, represented by the lieutenant governor of ...

. He unsuccessfully introduced a private member's bill to abolish this practice, and continued to advocate for this until it was abolished in 1873. He returned to Parliament through an 1884

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to ...

. He was re-elected in subsequent elections until his defeat in the 1896 election despite this being the election that brought the Liberals back to power. He served as

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

in the

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of Alexander Mackenzie from 1876 to 1878. Sir

Wilfrid Laurier Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier, ( ; ; November 20, 1841 – February 17, 1919) was a Canadian lawyer, statesman, and politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadian prime mini ...

appointed Mills to the

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the ...

after he lost his Commons seat in 1896, and appointed him to Cabinet as

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and

Leader of the Government in the Canadian Senate The representative of the Government in the Senate (french: représentant du gouvernement au Sénat) is the member of the Senate of Canada who is responsible for introducing, promoting, and defending the government's bills in the Senate after th ...

. He resigned from the Senate and Cabinet in 1902. He was appointed to the

on February 8, 1902, and served on the Court for one year until his death in 1903.

References

*
Selected poetry of David Mills
*
Supreme Court of Canada biography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, David 1831 births 1903 deaths Lawyers in Ontario Judges in Ontario Canadian senators from Ontario Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada Liberal Party of Canada MPs Liberal Party of Canada senators Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) University of Michigan Law School alumni