Thomas D'Arcy McGee has the dubious distinction of being the only Canadian politician to be assassinated. It happened in April of 1868, before the nation he'd helped to build was a year old.
McGee was a talented poet, a brilliant orator and a visionary politician. Irish born, he was a one-time Irish nationalist who became a strong federalist in Canada. One of the Fathers of Confederation, he was elected by the Irish constituents of West Montreal, where a still bears his name. He opposed the Fenians, a rebel Irish group formed in the US who raided into Canada, hoping to further their goal of driving the English from Ireland.
After publishing an anti-violence article in the Montreal Gazette and condemning secret societies like the Fenians, D'Arcy Magee was shot to death on his own doorstep in Ottawa after a late sitting in Parliament. He was buried on what should have been his 43rd birthday.
Canadian novelist Jane Urquhart has written his death into her novel Away, coming up with a fictitious explanation and assassin for his murder. In real life, the identity of the perpetrator was never satisfactorily proven.
Even though James Patrick Whelan was arrested, tried and publicly hanged in front of a crowd of 5000 for the murder of D'Arcy McGee, some doubts about his guilt remain.
After his death, there were no more public hangings in Canada.
No comments:
Post a Comment