Frederick Debartzch Monk

{{Short description|Canadian politician (1856–1914)}} {{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = [[The Honourable]] | name = Frederick Debartzch Monk | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|KC|size=100%}} | image = Frederick Debartzch Monk.jpg | constituency_MP = [[Jacques Cartier (electoral district)|Jacques Cartier]] | parliament = Canadian | predecessor = [[Napoléon Charbonneau]] | successor = [[Joseph Adélard Descarries]] | term_start = 1896 | term_end = 1914 | birth_date = {{birth date|1856|04|06}} | birth_place = Montreal, [[Canada East]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1914|05|15|1856|04|06}} | death_place = Montreal, Quebec, Canada | spouse = | party = [[Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942)|Conservative]] | cabinet = Minister of Public Works (1911–1912) | relations = [[Pierre-Dominique Debartzch]], grandfather | children = [[Frederick Arthur Monk]] | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = }} '''Frederick Debartzch Monk''' {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|KC}} (April 6, 1856 – May 15, 1914) was a Canadian lawyer and politician.

Born in [[Montreal, Quebec|Montreal]], [[Canada East]], Monk was the son of Justice Samuel Cornwallis Monk (1814–1888) and Rosalie Caroline Debartzch (1819–1889), daughter of [[Pierre-Dominique Debartzch]]. His grandmother, Anne (Gugy) Monk was a daughter of [[Louis Gugy]]. He received a [[bachelor of civil law]] degree in 1877 from [[McGill University]] and was called to the [[Quebec Bar]] in 1878. From 1888 to 1914, he taught in the faculty of law at the [[Université Laval]]. In 1893, he was made a [[Queen's Counsel]].

Monk was first elected to the [[House of Commons of Canada]] in [[1896 Canadian federal election|1896]] as a [[Conservative Party of Canada (historical)|Conservative]] member of Parliament for the riding of [[Jacques Cartier (electoral district)|Jacques Cartier]]. He was re-elected in [[1900 Canadian federal election|1900]], [[1904 Canadian federal election|1904]] and [[1908 Canadian federal election|1908.]] In 1901 his political program, entitled "Canada for Canadians," presented his beliefs and hopes for Canada: respect for Canada's two founding "races," to whom, he said, it rightfully belonged, and a Canada autonomous in its relations with the British empire, and empowered to direct its own economic development.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/monk_frederick_debartzch_14E.html |title=Monk, Frederick Debartzch |last=Béland |first=François |work=[[Dictionary of Canadian Biography]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250917151247/https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/monk_frederick_debartzch_14E.html |archive-date=September 17, 2025 |access-date=September 17, 2025}}</ref> However his aspirations for Canada were seen to be opposed to the Conservative Party's long-standing belief in ties to Britain.

In 1909, Monk pressed the House of Commons to appoint a committee of MPs to investigate methods of [[proportional representation]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/9630/pg9630-images.html |last=Humphreys |first= John H. |title= Proportional Representation: A Study in Methods of Election |year=1911 |access-date=September 17, 2025 |via=[[Project Gutenberg]]}}</ref>

Monk was re-elected in [[1911 Canadian federal election|1911]]. He resigned from Cabinet on October 28, 1912, after disagreeing with [[Robert Borden]] over the refusal of a referendum on Canadian purchase of three dreadnought class ships for [[Wilfrid Laurier]]'s "[[Naval Service Act|Tin Pot Navy]]."<ref>{{cite book |last=Morton |first=Desmond |author-link=Desmond Morton (historian) |title=A Short History of Canada, 6th ed. |year=2006 |publisher=[[McClelland and Stewart]] |location=Toronto, Ontario, Canada |isbn=0-7710-6480-2 |pages=173}}</ref> From 1911 to 1912, he was the [[List of Canadian Ministers of Public Works|minister of public works]]. Monk continued as a backbench MP, though his relations with the Conservative Party were increasingly strained, until March 2, 1914, when he resigned from the House of Commons due to ill health. He died two months later and was entombed at the [[Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery]] in Montreal.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Répertoire des personnages inhumés au cimetière ayant marqué l'histoire de notre société |publisher=[[Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery]] |location=Montreal, Quebec, Canada |language=fr}}</ref>

His son, [[Frederick Arthur Monk]], was a member of the [[Legislative Assembly of Quebec]] from 1935 to 1936.

==Electoral record== {{1896 Canadian federal election/Jacques Cartier}} {{1900 Canadian federal election/Jacques Cartier}} {{1904 Canadian federal election/Jacques Cartier}} {{1908 Canadian federal election/Jacques Cartier}} {{1911 Canadian federal election/Jacques Cartier}}

By-election: On Monk being appointed minister of public works, October 10, 1911

{{CanElec1-by|27 October 1911}} {{CANelec|CA|Conservative (historical)|Frederick Debartzch Monk|acclaimed}} {{end}}

== Archives == There is a Frederick Debartzch Monk [[fonds]] at [[Library and Archives Canada]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Finding aid to Frederick Debartzch Monk fonds, Library and Archives Canada|url=https://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000001338.pdf}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

== External links == * {{DictCanbio|ID=7607}} * {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=13692}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monk, Frederick Debartzch}} [[Category:1856 births]] [[Category:1914 deaths]] [[Category:Canadian people of Polish descent]] [[Category:Canadian legal scholars]] [[Category:Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) MPs]] [[Category:McGill University Faculty of Law alumni]] [[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Montreal]] [[Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada]] [[Category:Academic staff of Université Laval]] [[Category:Canadian King's Counsel]] [[Category:Burials at Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery]] [[Category:19th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]] [[Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]