French-Canadian lawyer and member
of the Assembly of Lower Canada, b. at Charlesbourg near Quebec,
13 November, 1762; d. at Three Rivers, 26 April 1829. He was the
son of Pierre-Stanislas Bédard and Marie-Josephine
Thibault. After he had completed the course of studies at the
seminary of Quebec, where he proved himself an excellent pupil, he
studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1792 Bédard was
elected member of the Assembly for Northumberland and continued a
member of the Assembly until 1812. During these years he
represented successively Northumberland, the lower town of Quebec,
and Surrey and gave proof of his sterling qualities. He devoted
himself, however, chiefly to the study of constitutional questions
of which many of the government officials seemed to have but an
imperfect conception. When the newspaper, "Le Canadien"
was founded in 1806, he became a regular contributor and expressed
his views concerning the constitutional government of the province
of Quebec with such warmth that the governor Sir James Craig, in
the spring of 1810 suppressed "Le Canadien" and threw
Bédard into prison. Here Bédard remained some twelve
months, although the governor offered him his freedom several
times, so that he could take the seat in the Assembly to which he
had been elected during his imprisonment. Bédard, however,
demanded a regular trial, which the authorities were not willing
to grant. Finally for the sake of peace Bédard left the
prison. After Craig had resigned his position and gone to England,
the new governor, Sir George Prevost, appointed Bédard a
judge of the superior court at Three Rivers as compensation for
what he endured. Bédard filled this position from 11
December, 1813, until March, 1827 when illness obliged him to
absent himself from his duties for some months. After this his
health failed steadily until his death. He was buried in the
parish church at Three Rivers. Bédard had four children one
of whom, Elzevir, became a distinguished judge.
N. E. Dionne.
