Ezekiel Hart
May 15, 1767 – September 16, 1843
Ezekiel Hart was elected into the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada in 1807. He represented the town of Trois-Rivieres, where he and his family had become respected members of the community, running a general store and brewery. He was the first Jewish member of the elected assembly.
In January 1808, he was removed from the Legislature and denied his seat because he would only swear on the Hebrew Bible and could therefore not take his oath "in the true faith of a Christian".
Another election was held later that year and again he was elected to the assembly and took his oath of office on the Christian Bible. Pierre-Stanilas Bedard, leader of the Le Canadien, a popular paper, protested against, what he believed, to be an affront to the laws of the land stating that:
"no Christian nation had granted Jews the rights of citizens, not for unjust reasons, but because they themselves do not wish to be part of any country. They may make a country their residence to pursue their business dealings, but never their home. This state of affairs is a result of the Jewish tradition, which requires Jews to wait for the messiah, their prince; while waiting, they cannot pledge allegiance to any other prince."
In 1809, due to much public outrage, Ezekiel was again removed from the assembly.
Ezekiel Hart never ran for office again. But due to the efforts of his grandson, Benjamin Hart, the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada passed a law giving equal rights to Jews in 1832. It was the first law of its kind in the British Empire.
- Ford, K., MacLean J. & Wansbrough B., Great Canadian Lives: Portraits in Heroism to 1867, 1985
No comments:
Post a Comment