Joe Fratesi

Last updated

Joseph Fratesi is the former mayor and former chief administrative officer of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Serving as Sault Ste. Marie's mayor from 1986 to 1996, he was the longest-serving mayor in Sault Ste. Marie's history, breaking the record that W. John McMeeken had held since 1945. [1]

On January 29, 1990, during his term as mayor, the city council approved a resolution making English the sole working language of city government. The council's decision, which Fratesi had strongly supported, caused controversy within the town and across Canada. The resolution was widely seen as retaliation for Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa's move to override the Supreme Court of Canada ruling that declared parts of Bill 101 unconstitutional. Bill 101 had declared French as the only official language of Quebec. Many prominent politicians, such as Premiers David Peterson and Bob Rae, and Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, refused to meet with Fratesi on unrelated matters due to his stance. However, Fratesi was re-elected by a landslide in 1991. The resolution was struck down by a court ruling in 1994, one year after Premier Bourassa passed Bill 86 which amended that province's language laws in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling. [2]

Fratesi was involved in a conflict of interest controversy in 1995 when he applied for and got the post of chief administrative officer while still sitting as mayor. [3] The Ontario Superior Court banned Fratesi from running for municipal officer for six years following a finding he had been in conflict of interest by applying for the chief administrative position while still holding the mayoral office. [4] After stepping down as mayor, he was briefly replaced by Michael Sanzosti before former MP Steve Butland was elected in a special 1996 byelection. [5] He retired as chief administrative officer in 2015.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan</span> City in Michigan, United States

Sault Ste. Marie is a city in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Chippewa County and is the only city within the county. With a population of 13,337 at the 2020 census, it is the second-most populated city in the Upper Peninsula, behind Marquette. It is the primary city of the Sault Ste. Marie, MI Micropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Chippewa County and had a population of 36,785 at the 2020 census. Sault Ste. Marie was settled by mostly French colonists in 1668, making it the oldest city in Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Bourassa</span> 20th-century Premier of Quebec

Robert Bourassa was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd premier of Quebec from 1970 to 1976 and from 1985 to 1994. A member of the Liberal Party of Quebec, he served a total of just under 15 years as premier. Bourassa's tenure was marked by major events affecting Quebec, including the October Crisis and the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords.

<i>Ford v Quebec (AG)</i> Supreme Court of Canada case

Ford v Quebec (AG), [1988] 2 SCR 712 is a landmark Supreme Court of Canada decision in which the Court struck down part of the Charter of the French Language, commonly known as "Bill 101". This law had prohibited the use of commercial signs written in languages other than French and required businesses to use only the French versions of their names. The court ruled that Bill 101 violated the freedom of expression as guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Charter of the French Language, also known as Bill101, is a law in the Canadian province of Quebec defining French, the language of the majority of the population, as the official language of the provincial government. It is the central piece of legislation that forms Quebec's language policy and one of the three principle statutes upon which the cohesion of Quebec's society is based, along with the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms and the Civil Code of Quebec. The Charter also protects the Indigenous languages of Quebec.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meech Lake Accord</span> Series of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada

The Meech Lake Accord was a series of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and all 10 Canadian provincial premiers. It was intended to persuade the government of Quebec to symbolically endorse the 1982 constitutional amendments by providing for some decentralization of the Canadian federation.

The Victoria Charter was a set of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada in 1971. This document represented a failed attempt on the part of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to patriate the Constitution, add a bill of rights to it and entrench English and French as Canada's official languages; he later succeeded in all these objectives in 1982 with the enactment of the Constitution Act, 1982.

David Michael Orazietti is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2003 to 2016 who represented the northern Ontario riding of Sault Ste. Marie. He served in the cabinet of Kathleen Wynne, most recently as Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, until he resigned on December 31, 2016. His resignation became effective January 1, 2017. In January 2017, Orazietti was appointed Dean of Aviation, Trades and Technology, Natural Environment and Business at Sault College.{

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians</span> Reservation

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, commonly shortened to Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians or the more colloquial Soo Tribe, is a federally recognized Native American tribe in what is now known as Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The tribal headquarters is located within Sault Ste. Marie, the major city in the region, which is located on the St. Marys River.

Steve Butland is a Canadian politician. He represented the Sault Ste. Marie electoral district in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 1993 as a member of the New Democratic Party.

Carmen Provenzano was a Canadian politician. He represented the Sault Ste. Marie electoral district in the House of Commons of Canada from 1997 to 2004. He was a member of the Liberal Party of Canada.

CFYN was a Canadian AM radio station, which broadcast at 1050 kHz in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, from 1977 to 1992. From 1934 to 1977, the station broadcast with the call sign CJIC.

John Rowswell was a Canadian politician who served as the mayor of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario from 2000 to 2010. He was first elected in the 2000 municipal election, defeating Steve Butland, and in 2006 he was re-elected for his third term with approximately 56.5% of the vote. He was a consulting engineer who operated his own company, Rowswell & Associates Engineers Ltd. He was one of the longest-serving mayors in the city's history; only Joe Fratesi served as mayor of Sault Ste. Marie for longer than Rowswell.

The Sault Ste. Marie language resolution was a government motion passed on January 29, 1990, by Sault Ste. Marie City Council, the governing body of the city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, which resolved that English was the sole working language of city government. The resolution ignited a national controversy which made the city a flashpoint in the Meech Lake Accord debate.

The 1985 Ontario municipal elections were held on November 12, 1985, to elect mayors, municipal councils, school boards, and hydro commissions in cities, towns and other incorporated communities throughout the Canadian province of Ontario.

The Corporation of the City of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario is run by a city council of 10 Councillors, representing five wards, and a mayor. Prior to the 2018 municipal elections, the Council was made up of 12 councillors, representing six wards, and a mayor.

Elections were held in the organized municipalities in the Algoma District of Ontario on October 25, 2010, in conjunction with municipal elections across the province.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario</span> City in Ontario, Canada

Sault Ste. Marie is a city in Ontario, Canada. The third-largest city in Northern Ontario after Sudbury and Thunder Bay, it is located on the St. Mary's River on the Canada–US border. To the southwest, across the river, is the United States and the Michigan city of the same name. The two cities are joined by the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge, which connects Interstate 75 on the Michigan side to Huron Street on the Ontario side. Shipping traffic in the Great Lakes system bypasses the Saint Mary's Rapids via the American Soo Locks, the world's busiest canal in terms of tonnage that passes through it, while smaller recreational and tour boats use the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal.

A few days after the Supreme Court of Canada delivered its ruling in the 1988 case of Ford v. Quebec, a decision which approved multilingual commercial expression, the Parti libéral du Québec (PLQ) government of premier Robert Bourassa amended Bill 101 with Bill 178. This latter Act maintained French as the only language on outdoor "public signs, posters and commercial advertising" and within shopping centres and the public transit system. The only exceptions were "foreign-language" signs indoors, subject to approval by the Office de la langue française, and advertisements carried in non-French media, such as the Montreal Gazette.

James Lloyd McIntyre was the 17th mayor of the city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. During his three terms from 1960 to 1964, he helped lead a period of transition for the city, including securing the location and construction of the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge, de-industrialization of the downtown waterfront, waste water treatment, and amalgamation of Korah and Tarentorus townships into the city.

References

  1. "City to pay respects to Rowswell". The Sault Star. 2010-09-03.
  2. Crosswords: Language, Education and Ethnicity in French Ontario, Monica Heller, p. 79
  3. Sims, Harvey (2001). The Best Man for the Job: Joe Fratesi and the Politics of Sault Ste. Marie. Toronto: ECW Press. ISBN   1-55022-454-9.
  4. "Sims v. Fratesi, 1996 CanLII 8130 (ON SC)".
  5. "Under Construction city.sault-ste-marie.on.ca".