Portrait of Speaker Napoléon-Antoine Belcourt
Napoléon-Antoine Belcourt was born in Toronto in 1860 to a family that soon moved to Trois-Rivières. He became a lawyer and eventually settled in Ottawa, and was elected to Parliament in 1896 as a leading voice for the rights of Franco-Ontarians. He was Speaker for only 10 months, but his brief tenure was hailed in the Commons as a success. Prime Minister Laurier made him a senator in 1907.
He died in 1932, and Belcourt, Quebec was named in his honour. Charles Ignace Adélard Gill painted his portrait in 1905, with Belcourt in luminous robes against a dark background.