Louis Joseph Papineau

Louis Joseph Papineau , 1786-1871, French Canadian political leader and insurgent, b. Montreal. After serving as an officer in the War of 1812, he entered (1814) the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada (Quebec), of which he was (1815-37) speaker. Eloquent and able, he soon became leader of the French Canadian Reform party. His hostility to the British government in Canada, whose measures he considered unfair to the French Canadians, inflamed some of his followers, the Patriotes, to open rebellion in 1837; shortly afterward a rebellion incited by William Lyon Mackenzie broke out in Upper Canada (Ontario). Papineau took no active part in the uprisings but fled to the United States, where he sought assistance for the Canadian colonial cause. Failing in his effort, he went to France. He received full amnesty in 1844 and returned to Canada in 1845. He reentered politics and again sat (1848-54) in the Canadian legislative assembly, but he never regained his former influence.

Bibliography: See biographies by A. D. De Celles (in Makers of Canada series, Vol. V, 1926) and F. Guellet (1961).

Papineau, Louis-Joseph (1786–1871). Papineau was leader of the patriote party in Lower Canada (modern Quebec), and the voice of a vocal nationalism, which by 1834 confronted the British government with demands for effective control of the province. In response, the House of Commons in March 1837 authorized the governor to ignore the Assembly, which was refusing to vote taxes. Lower Canada simmered with protest until November, when an attempt to arrest Papineau triggered open rebellion. British forces suppressed the uprising with much loss of life. Papineau went into exile, returning to Canada in 1845 and later campaigning against the abolition of the seigneurial system.

Ged Martin

Papineau, Louis Joseph (1786–1871) French-Canadian politician. He opposed the union of Upper and Lower Canada. His quarrels with Britain, which rejected his plan for greater French-Canadian autonomy, incited his followers to rebellion (1837). He escaped arrest by fleeing to the USA, then to France. Granted an amnesty (1847), he returned to Canada and was a member of the unified legislature (1848–54).