Ezekiel Hart

Ezekiel Hart (15 May 1770 – 16 September 1843) was an

He was elected twice by the voters of Trois-Rivières to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. Some members consistently prevented him from taking his seat by observing that as a Jew, he could not take the oath of office, which included the phrase "on the true faith of a Christian".

Ezekiel Hart was born May 15, 1767, at

Hart petitioned the legislature, saying that, while he believed that he was justified in the law in taking a seat by means of the oath used by Jews in the courts, he was willing to swear the oaths used for those elected to the assembly. After some deliberation, however, on 20 February 1808, the assembly resolved by a vote of 35 to 5 that "Ezekiel Hart, Esquire, professing the Jewish religion cannot take a seat, nor sit, nor vote, in this House."[10]

In 1808, new elections were held, and once again Trois-Rivières returned Hart as one of its two representatives. This time, to avoid controversy, Hart took the oath in the same fashion as a Christian. In his presentation to the assembly, Pierre-Stanislas Bédard, the leader of Le Canadien, argued against granting a seat to Hart in the assembly. He claimed 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."^[11]

Hart did not run for public office again. He continued to live in Trois-Rivières where he was a successful businessman and well-respected member of the community. He served in the militia during the War of 1812, serving as a lieutenant under Lieutenant Colonel Charles-Michel d'Irumberry de Salaberry in the 8th Battalion of Trois-Rivières militia. He was later promoted colonel in 1830.

His wife died on 21 April 1821, at Trois-Rivières.

On 5 June 1832, mainly because of Hart's activism, the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, under the influence and authority of

Many of Hart's family members were also important people in the community. His brother Benjamin was an important businessman at Montreal. Because of his work, the Legislative Assembly granted Jews the right to erect a new synagogue and to keep registers of births, marriages and deaths within their community. His cousin Henry Judah was later elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada for Champlain.

Ezekiel Hart died on 16 September 1843 at

In October 1909, the remains of Ezekiel Hart and others buried in the Jewish cemetery on Prison Street in Trois-Rivières were moved to Montreal's Mount Royal Cemetery of the Congregation of Spanish and Portuguese Jews.

• The Hart family papers held by the
  Montreal, Quebec. The Château Ramezay
  owns an oil portrait of him.
• The Member from Trois-Rivières, a one-act play about the life of Ezekiel Hart, was written in 1959 by Maxwell Charles Cohen.^[20]
• A
  Heritage Minute mentioning the Hart Affair was filmed and broadcast in the 1990s.^[21]
• In 2002, a
  Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.^[22]
  A plaque was commemorated to him at the Patrimoine de Trois-Rivières.
• A street in Trois-Rivières was named for him (Rue Hart).

• Antisemitism in Canada
• History of the Jews in Canada
• Electoral firsts in Canada
• Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada
• Timeline of Quebec history (1791 to 1840)

Footnotes

1. ^ "Ezekiel Hart". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2016.
2. ISBN 1-85109-439-3
   .
3. ISBN 0-87451-609-9
   .
4. ^ Brown, Michael (1986). The Beginning of Jewish Emancipation in Canada: The Hart Affair. Vol. 10.
5. ISBN 0-88125-108-9
   .
6. ^ Journals of the House of Assembly of Lower Canada. 17 February 1808. p. 120.
7. ISBN 0-471-79929-7
   .
8. ^ Arnold, Abraham J. (1979). "Ezekiel Hart and the Oath Problem in the Assembly of Lower Canada". Canadian Jewish Historical Society Journal. 3: 10–26, 13.
9. ^ "Si Caligula l'Empéreur". Le Canadien. Lower Canada. 18 April 1807. p. 87. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021. Si Caligula l'Empereur / Fit son cheval consul à Rome, / Ici, notre peuple électeur / Surpasse beaucoup ce grand homme; / Il prend par un choix surprenant / Un juif pour son représentant.
10. ^ Journals of the House of Assembly of Lower Canada. 20 February 1808. p. 144.
11. ^
    ISBN 0-88920-216-8
    .
12. ^ Douville, Raymond (1939–1940). "L'Affaire Hart: Historical Circumstances of the Legislation Giving Jews a Status of Political Equality". Canadian Jewish Year Book. Vol. 1. pp. 149–152.
13. ^ Sack, B.G. (1965). History of the Jews in Canada. trans. Ralph Novek, rev. ed. Montreal: Harvest House.
14. ISBN 9780827602717
    .
15. ^ Bélanger, Claude, ed. (23 August 2000). "An Act to Grant Equal Rights and Privileges to Persons of the Jewish Religion (1832)". Marianopolis College. Archived from the original on 17 March 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2009.
16. ^ Bédard, Marc-André (January 1983). "Québec et le droit de vote des personnes de religion juive: une première?". Bulletin de la Bibliothèque de l'Assemblée nationale du Québec (in French). 13 (1): 20. Archived from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
17. ^ "Building Democracy: Hart & Papineau". Historica. Archived from the original on 7 June 2008. Retrieved 5 March 2009.
18. ^ "Hart Family Papers". American Jewish Historical Society Archives. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2009-03-11.
19. ^ "Hart Family Papers". McCord Museum. Archived from the original on 2007-11-10. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
20. OL 20143637M. Archived from the original on 2024-08-04. Retrieved 2016-07-13 – via Open Library
    .
21. ^ "Hart & Papineau". Historica Canada. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016.
22. ^ "Plaque erected by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada". Archived from the original on 2009-03-25.

External links

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Ezekiel Hart

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Political offices
Preceded by Tory	Tory	Succeeded by Tory