DCB/DBC Mobile beta
+

As part of the funding agreement between the Dictionary of Canadian Biography and the Canadian Museum of History, we invite readers to take part in a short survey.

I’ll take the survey now.

Remind me later.

Don’t show me this message again.

I have already taken the questionnaire

DCB/DBC News

New Biographies

Minor Corrections

Biography of the Day

ROBINSON, ELIZA ARDEN – Volume XIII (1901-1910)

d. in Victoria 19 March 1906

Confederation

Responsible Government

Sir John A. Macdonald

From the Red River Settlement to Manitoba (1812–70)

Sir Wilfrid Laurier

Sir George-Étienne Cartier

Sports

The Fenians

Women in the DCB/DBC

The Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences of 1864

Introductory Essays of the DCB/DBC

The Acadians

For Educators

The War of 1812 

Canada’s Wartime Prime Ministers

The First World War

Link

Source: Link

BÉTOURNAY, LOUIS, lawyer and judge; b. Saint-Lambert, Chambly County, L.C., 13 Nov. 1825; d. Saint-Boniface, Man., 30 Oct. 1879.

Louis Bétournay was the son of Pierre Bétournay (who died before his birth) and Archange Vincent, and fifth-generation descendant of Adrien Bétourné, dit La Violette, soldier of the Carignan-Salières regiment, and Marie Deshaies. Educated at the college of Montreal, Bétournay subsequently studied law with the future judge Joseph-Ubalde Beaudry. He was called to the bar in February 1849 and practised law in Saint-Lambert and later in Montreal in a legal firm with George-Étienne Cartier and François-Pierre Pominville. He served on the Montreal city council from 1870 to November 1872. Created a qc in 1872, he was appointed, on 31 October of that year, through the influence of his law partner, Cartier, puisne judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench in the newly formed province of Manitoba, the first French Canadian to be appointed to a superior court west of Lake Superior. Leaving Montreal on 10 December, in company with Captain, the Viscount Louis Frasse de Plainval, chief of the Manitoba constabulary, he reached Fort Garry (Winnipeg) ten days later.

Bétournay’s duties were not limited to those of a judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench, but included those of a county court judge and police magistrate as well. He was a member of the court which ordered Ambroise-Dydime Lépine*, Louis Riel*’s principal lieutenant, to stand trial in 1873 for the execution of Thomas Scott* during the Red River troubles. In accordance with the bilingual character of Manitoba at this time, Bétournay addressed the jury in French, and his colleague on the bench, James Charles McKeagney, spoke in English. As a result of his role in the Lépine trial, Bétournay gained the ill will of many of the French-speaking inhabitants of the province. In consequence, little mention was made of his activities in the local French-language newspaper, Le Métis.

Louis Bétournay was an urbane gentleman, who had a fine library. He was fond of horses, even though on several occasions he suffered injury while riding or driving. He possessed a strong sense of duty, and despite the fact that he suffered from dropsy in his later years, did not neglect his judicial responsibilities. He finally succumbed to his affliction at the age of 54.

On 3 March 1859 Bétournay had married Marie Mercil (Mercille) of Saint-Lambert. There were ten children by the marriage, the eldest of whom was 16 at the time of the father’s death. Madame Bétournay survived her husband by 43 years, dying in Saint-Boniface in 1922.

George F. G. Stanley

Archives de l’archevêché de Saint-Boniface (Man.), Correspondance de l’archevêché. Le Métis (Saint-Boniface), 21 déc., 28 déc. 1872; 3 nov., 11 nov. 1879. La Minerve (Montréal), 3 nov. 1879. Ottawa Daily Free Press, 4 Nov. 1879. Dom. ann. reg., 1879, 386. Stanley, Louis Riel, 193, 194, 210. J.-J. Lefebvre, “Louis Bétournay (1825–1879), premier juge canadien-français d’une Cour supérieure dans l’Ouest canadien,” BRH, LVIII (1952) 29–31. E. K. Williams, “Aspects of the legal history of Manitoba,” HSSM, Papers, 3rd ser., no.4 ([1948]), 59–60.

General Bibliography

Cite This Article

George F. G. Stanley, “BÉTOURNAY, LOUIS,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 10, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed March 19, 2024, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/betournay_louis_10E.html.

The citation above shows the format for footnotes and endnotes according to the Chicago manual of style (16th edition). Information to be used in other citation formats:


Permalink:   http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/betournay_louis_10E.html
Author of Article:   George F. G. Stanley
Title of Article:   BÉTOURNAY, LOUIS
Publication Name:   Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 10
Publisher:   University of Toronto/Université Laval
Year of publication:   1972
Year of revision:   1972
Access Date:   March 19, 2024