Thomas Chase-Casgrain

Thomas Chase Casgrain, PC, QC ( born July 28, 1852 in Detroit, Michigan, † December 29, 1916 in Ottawa, Ontario, also known as Thomas Casgrain ) was a Canadian politician and professor of law. Nationally, he was known as a prosecutor in the treason trial of Louis Riel, the leader of the North-West Rebellion. From 1914 until his death he was Postmaster General.

Biography

Chase - Casgrain comes from a political dynasty; his father and a cousin were senators, two uncles Members of the House of Commons. He studied at the Université de Laval, first medicine, but after a year of legal science. In 1877 he was admitted as a lawyer, two years later he was appointed professor. In 1885 the federal government appointed him to the prosecutor, with the task of preparing the treason trial of Louis Riel. Chase - Casgrain was the only francophone member of the prosecution, which is why the Liberals referred to in his home province of Québec him as a traitor. With several demonstrations dolls were burned, which were modeled after him.

Despite the hostility he was in 1886 elected to Parliament from Quebec, where he remained until 1890. After the fall of Honoré Mercier liberal provincial government, he was re-elected in 1892 and appointed in the conservative cabinet of Charles Boucher de Boucherville to the Attorney General. This office he held until 1896. In the same year the choice was followed into the House. In 1904, he lost the elections and withdrew temporarily from politics. After winning a by-election in November 1914, he moved back to the House and was Postmaster General in Robert Borden's Cabinet. Just over two years later, he died of pneumonia.