Firmin Monestime

{{Infobox person | name = Firmin Monestime | birth_date = {{Birth date |1909|12|16}} | birth_place = Cap-Haïtien | death_date = {{death date and age|1977|10|27|1909|12|16}} | alma_mater = University of Haiti | spouse = Zenaida Petschersky (married 1953–) }}

'''Saint-Firmin (S. F.) Monestime''' (December 16, 1909 – October 27, 1977) was a Haitian-Canadian politician and medical doctor, who was the first Black Canadian elected mayor of a Canadian municipality.<ref name="pastforward">[http://www.pastforward.ca/perspectives/columns/07_10_26.htm "Mattawa's Dr. Firmin Monestime Remembered"], ''North Bay Nugget'', October 26, 2007.</ref>

== Background == Born in Cap-Haïtien in 1909,<ref name="embassy">[http://ambassade-haiti.ca/ambassade/evenements/visite-de-lambassadeur-a-mattawa "Visite de l’Ambassadeur à Mattawa"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202065721/http://ambassade-haiti.ca/ambassade/evenements/visite-de-lambassadeur-a-mattawa |date=February 2, 2015 }}. Embassy of Haiti in Canada.</ref> Monestime was one of seven children. His father was a successful tanner.<ref name="tvo" />

He moved to Quebec City in 1945. Before departing, he separated from his wife at the time, with whom he had two children — Monestime continued to support them from abroad.<ref name="tvo" />

He later married Zena Petschersky, an immigrant from Danzig,<ref>{{cite web|title=MONESTIME, Zenaida Feodorovna (Zena) Petschersky|url=http://www.baytoday.ca/content/obituaries/print.asp?c=9980|work=BayToday.ca|accessdate=October 6, 2014}}</ref> whom he met in Ottawa in 1953. Together, they had four children.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2019-06-26|title=Dr. Saint-Firmin Monestime|url=https://mattawamuseum.ca/local-history/local-characters/dr-saint-firmin-monestime/|access-date=2022-02-11|website=Mattawa Museum|language=en-CA}}</ref>

== Medical career == Monestime studied rural medicine and wrote three books on the subject.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://openlibrary.org/b/OL6492780M|title=... Conférences de médecine rurale (Open Library)|publisher=|ol=6492780M |accessdate=October 6, 2014}}</ref> He graduated from University of Haiti with a medical degree.<ref name="tvo" /> In 1937, he was one of the only doctors on duty during the Parsley Massacre, and was subsequently awarded the Haitian Legion of Merit for his work during that crisis.<ref name="embassy" />

After upgrading his medical training he planned a move to Timmins, Ontario to set up a medical practice, but when he stopped in Mattawa, Ontario en route, he was convinced by a restaurant owner to stay in that town and set up practice there instead.<ref name="tvo">[https://www.tvo.org/article/current-affairs/how-saint-firmin-monestime-made-history-as-canadas-first-black-mayor "How Saint-Firmin Monestime made history as Canada’s first Black mayor"]. TVOntario, February 13, 2019.</ref>

Monestime practiced medicine in Mattawa until 1964, when he became mayor.<ref name="tvo" />

== Politics == In 1962, Monestime ran for to be on the council of Mattawa and was elected.<ref name=":0" /> The next year, he was elected mayor of Mattawa in 1963.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2014-02-17|title=Photo exhibit honours Canada's first elected black mayor|language=en-CA|work=The Toronto Star|url=https://www.thestar.com/life/blackhistorymonth/2014/02/17/photo_exhibit_honours_canadas_first_elected_black_mayor.html|access-date=2022-02-11|issn=0319-0781}}</ref>

He was active with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, and served as its national director. He considered running federally for the party, and in 1971 he ran and lost in a bid for the presidency of the party.<ref>"Choice of president shows Tories aiming at Ontario voters". ''Ottawa Journal'', December 8, 1971.</ref> A Red Tory, Monestime was attracted to the party because of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's Bill of Rights.<ref>''Where Rivers Meet: The Story of Dr. S. F. Monestime'', Doug Mackey.</ref>

In 1970, he became director of The Progressive Conservative Party and tried his hand at running for the President of Progressive Conservative Party for Nipissing, but was unsuccessful.<ref name="tvo" />

In 1971, he was re-elected as mayor.<ref name=":0" /> Except for one year that he took off for personal reasons, he remained mayor until his death due to pancreatic cancer in 1977.<ref name="tvo" /><ref name=":0" />

== Death of son == On February 29, 1976, Monestime's 21-year-old son, Fedia, was shot and killed outside the Trans-Canada Hotel in Mattawa. He was in a group chasing a man who had fired his rifle into the wall after a bar fight, when the man fired on them, also injuring three others.<ref>{{cite news|date=March 1, 1976|title=Hotel fight leads to man's death|newspaper=Ottawa Citizen|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19760301&id=icsyAAAAIBAJ&pg=5952,24663|accessdate=October 6, 2014}}</ref> Monestime treated three others wounded during the incident.<ref name="tvo" /> Ralph Childerhose was charged with murder and acquitted, a decision Monestime considered unjust.<ref name="pastforward" />

== Legacy == Monestime and his wife opened the Algonquin Nursing Home in Mattawa in 1976. His daughter Vala Monestime Belter continued to run the nursing home, and has served on the boards of Ontario Northland<ref>[http://www.mndm.gov.on.ca/news/NRView.asp?NRNUM=123&NRYear=1996&NRLAN=EN&NRID=2036 Hodgson Announces New ONTC Board of Directors], June 20, 1996.</ref> and TVOntario.<ref>{{Cite web|title=TVOntario Annual Report 2003-04|url=http://www.tvo.org/about/AnnualReports/AR_TVO_03_04_EN.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610013706/http://www.tvo.org/about/AnnualReports/AR_TVO_03_04_EN.pdf|archive-date=June 10, 2011|access-date=October 11, 2008}}</ref>

''Where Rivers Meet: The Story of Dr. S. F. Monestime, Canada's First Black Mayor'', a biography by historian Doug Mackey, was published in 2009.<ref>Kate Adams, [https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/where-rivers-meet-a-celebration-of-canadas-first-black-mayor-42437 "Where Rivers Meet, a celebration of Canada's first black mayor"]. ''Bay Today'', May 21, 2009.</ref>

A permanent exhibit related to Monestime was put on display at the Mattawa Museum.<ref name=":0" />

In 2014, Frantz Liautaud, the current ambassador of Haiti to Canada, visited Mattawa for a gala celebration of the 50th anniversary of Monestime's first election as mayor.<ref name="embassy" />

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monestime, Firmin}} Category:1909 births Category:1977 deaths Category:Black Canadian politicians Category:Canadian general practitioners Category:Franco-Ontarian people Category:Haitian emigrants to Canada Category:Haitian medical doctors Category:Naturalized citizens of Canada Category:People from Cap-Haïtien Category:People from Mattawa, Ontario Category:Progressive Conservative Party of Canada politicians Category:20th-century mayors of places in Ontario Category:Politicians from Nipissing District Category:Health professionals from Nipissing District