Eugène "Gene" Rhéaume (December 3, 1932 – November 1, 2013) was a politician, insurance agent, and social worker from

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

, Canada.

Life

Born in

High Prairie High Prairie is a town in northern Alberta, Canada within Big Lakes County. It is located at the junction of Alberta Highway 2, Highway 2 and Alberta Highway 749, Highway 749, approximately northeast of Valleyview, Alberta, Valleyview and wes ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, he was the eighth of nine children. Their father was French-Canadian and their mother was of

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

Ojibwa The Ojibwe (; syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the northern plains, extending into the subarctic and thro ...

, and

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

heritage. Rhéaume studied English at the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

, obtaining a BA in 1953, and later received a social work degree after working in that field for a time. He married Helen Gessler in 1954. They had six children between 1955 and 1963. They were married 37 years, then, following a divorce, Rhéaume's partner for 15 years until his death was Margaret Jones of Okanagan Falls, British Columbia. Rhéaume first ran for the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

in the

1962 Canadian federal election Year 196 ( CXCVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Dexter and Messalla (or, less frequently, year 949 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 196 for this yea ...

against Isabel Hardie; he lost the hotly contested election by only 300 votes. He faced Hardie again just a year later in the

1963 Canadian federal election The 1963 Canadian federal election was held on April 8, 1963, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 26th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the defeat of the minority Progressive Conservative (Tory) government of Prime Mi ...

, this time defeating her. Rhéaume served in the House of Commons for one term, before getting defeated himself in the

1965 Canadian federal election The 1965 Canadian federal election was held on November 8, 1965, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 27th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal Party of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson was re-elected to government, winning mor ...

by Robert Orange. He was the PC candidate in the

1974 Canadian federal election The 1974 Canadian federal election was held on July 8, 1974, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 30th Canadian Parliament, 30th Parliament of Canada. The governing Liberal Party of Canada, Liberal Party was reelected, goi ...

running in the

Saskatoon—Humboldt Saskatoon—Humboldt was a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 to 1979, and from 1988 to 2015. Geography The riding consisted of the northeastern quadrant of Sa ...

electoral district in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

; he was defeated by incumbent

Otto Lang :''see also Otto Lang (film producer) and Otto Lang (actor)'' Otto Emil Lang (born 14 May 1932) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician. Life and career Lang was born in Handel, Saskatchewan. In 1961, he was appointed Dean of Law at the U ...

. Rhéaume died on November 1, 2013, from complications related to cancer surgery.Mackay, Susan Ferrier (December 11, 2013).
Idolizing Riel, MP Gene Rheaume helped Métis find a place
, ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

''. Retrieved December 12, 2013. He was the grandfather of singer-songwriter Amanda Rheaume.Glenn Wilkins
"Rheaume to sing out at Downie tribute concert"
'' Barrie Today'', January 24, 2018.

Electoral history

References

External links

* 1932 births 2013 deaths Members of the House of Commons of Canada from the Northwest Territories Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs Métis politicians Canadian Métis people People from Big Lakes County Indigenous Members of the House of Commons of Canada 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada {{Saskatchewan-politician-stub