Joseph Hamelin

Who is Joseph Hamelin?

Joseph Hamelin was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1914 to 1927. Hamelin's paternal grandfather, Salomon Hamelin, served in the Legislative Council of Manitoba from 1871 to 1876. His maternal grandfather was legislator Pascal Breland.

Hamelin was born in St. Vital, Manitoba, the son of Firmin Hamelin and Clemence Breland, and was educated in St. Boniface and at the Juniorate of the Sacred Heart in Ottawa. He then returned to Manitoba and worked as a merchant, becoming manager of the Joseph Hamelin Co. general store in Ste. Rose du Lac in 1912. He served as reeve of Ste. Rose from 1900 to 1916.

Hamelin was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 1914 provincial election. Running for the Conservative Party in Ste. Rose, he defeated Liberal candidate J.A. Campbell by sixty votes. After the election, he served as a backbench supporter of Rodmond P. Roblin's government.

Hamelin's time on the government benches was brief. The Roblin government was forced to resign amid scandal in early 1915, and was resoundingly defeated in the 1915 provincial election. Hamelin was one of only five Conservatives to win re-election, defeating Liberal candidate Z.H. Rheaume by twenty-nine votes. Hamelin was the last member to speak against the bill granting women the vote in Manitoba in 1916. In the end, he voted in support of the bill, making its passage unanimous. He was again returned in the 1920 election, in which the Conservatives won eight seats out of fifty-five.