Joseph Bernier (1874-1951)

Lawyer, MLA (1900-1903), MLA (1908-1910), MLA (1911-1914), MLA (1914-1915), MLA (1921-1922), MLA (1923-1927), MLA (1927-1932).

Born at St. Jean d’Iberville, Quebec, 16 August 1874, son of Thomas Alfred Bernier and Malvina Demers, he came to Winnipeg in 1880. He was educated at St. Boniface College and the University of Manitoba (BA 1893), then he articled in law to Perdue and Robinson. He was called to the Manitoba Bar in 1896 then practised alone for a time before affiliating with the firm of Andrews and Pitblado. In 1902, he organized the firm of Bernier and Bernier. Nine years later, he was a barrister in the firm of Bernier, Blackwood, Bernier and Beaupre.

Elected for the constituency of St. Boniface (Conservative) in 1901, replacing S. A. D. Bertrand, he was the first representative of his ethnic group to sit in a Manitoba cabinet after the School crisis of 1890. He was defeated by one vote in 1905 by Horace Chevrier. He was returned again four years later becoming, in 1912, Provincial Secretary in the government of Rodmond P. Roblin. He refused nomination in 1915 but was elected again in 1918, and remained active in Conservative politics through the 1920s. He was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Manitoba in 1937. He retired in 1949.

During World War One, he helped with French-Canadian recruiting in District No. 10 in his capacity as honourary colonel with the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

In 1910, he married Rose Marie Bernie (?-1944) of L’Islet, Quebec. They had two sons: Robert Bernier and Maurice Deniset Bernier. He was a member of the Adanac Club and Carleton Club.

He died at Montreal, Quebec on 9 June 1951. His body was returned to St. Boniface for burial in the Archibald Street Cemetery.

Sources:

Who’s Who in Western Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of Western Canada, Volume 1, 1911. C. W. Parker, editor. Canadian Press Association, Vancouver.

Ramsay Cook (editor), The Dafoe-Sifton Correspondence, The Manitoba Record Society, page 281.

Members of the Legislative Assembly (deceased), Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.

“Judge Bernier dies at 76 in Montreal” Winnipeg Free Press, 9 June 1951, page 1.

Profile revised: 27 December 2009

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