Francis Xavier Richter Jr. (July 12, 1910 – November 20, 1977) was a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

politician, who served as a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

and Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Commercial Transport, and Minister of Mines and Petroleum Resources in the

Social Credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed in the 1920s and 1930s by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made t ...

government of W.A.C. Bennett in the province of

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. He represented the riding of Similkameen from 1953 to 1966 and its successor riding

Boundary-Similkameen Boundary-Similkameen is a provincial electoral district in British Columbia, Canada. It was formed in 2008 out of parts of Penticton-Okanagan Valley, West Kootenay-Boundary and Yale-Lillooet. The riding's name corresponds to that of a form ...

from 1966 to 1975. Born in

Keremeos, British Columbia Keremeos () is a village in British Columbia, Canada. The name originated from the Similkameen dialect of the Okanagan language word "Keremeyeus" meaning "creek which cuts its way through the flats" referring to Keremeos Creek which flows down fr ...

, he was the youngest son of Frank Richter, Sr., who settled in the

Similkameen Country The Similkameen Country, also referred to as the Similkameen Valley or Similkameen District, but generally referred to simply as The Similkameen or more archaically, Similkameen, is a region roughly coinciding with the basin of the river of the sam ...

of the

Southern Interior of British Columbia Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

in 1864 and became a successful rancher and entrepreneur there, and his wife, Florence Elizabeth Loudon. The elder Richter had five daughters and six sons, of whom the youngest was Frank Jr. Richter was a cattle rancher and fruit grower. He died at

Brentwood Bay Brentwood Bay is a small village in the municipality of Central Saanich, on the Saanich Peninsula in British Columbia, Canada. It lies north of the city of Victoria, east of the community of Willis Point, and south of the town of Sidney. Situat ...

at the age of 67.

References

*''Encyclopedia of Ghost Towns and Mining Camps of British Columbia: Volume 2, The Similkameen, Boundary and Okanagan'', T.W. Paterson, Sunfire Publications, Langley B.C. (1981) *''Strangers Entertained: A History of the Ethnic Groups of British Columbia'', John Norris, British Columbia Centenenial '71 Committee, Evergreen Press, Vancouver (1971) (no ISBN) 1910 births 1977 deaths Similkameen Country Canadian people of Austrian descent Leaders of the opposition (British Columbia) British Columbia Social Credit Party MLAs 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia {{SocialCredit-BritishColumbia-MLA-stub