| Théotime Blanchard | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | May 8, 1844 Caraquet, New Brunswick, Canada |
| Died | March 11, 1911 (aged 66) Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada |
| Resting place | Saint-Pierre-aux-Liens Cemetery, Caraquet, NB |
| Education | Caraquet common school |
| Occupation | Teacher, farmer, merchant, politician |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Marie Gauvin |
| Children | 3 sons, 1 daughter |
| Parent(s) | Agapit Blanchard & Anne-Marie Poirier |
Théotime Blanchard (May 8, 1844 – March 11, 1911) was a teacher, farmer, merchant and politician in the Province of New Brunswick, Canada. He represented Gloucester County from 1870 to 1875 and from 1892 to 1894 in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick and Gloucester in the House of Commons of Canada from 1894 to 1900 as a Conservative member.
New Brunswick is one of four Atlantic provinces on the east coast of Canada. According to the Constitution of Canada, New Brunswick is the only bilingual province. About two thirds of the population declare themselves anglophones and a third francophones. One third of the overall population describe themselves as bilingual. Atypically for Canada, only about half of the population lives in urban areas, mostly in Greater Moncton, Greater Saint John and the capital Fredericton.
Gloucester County is located in the northeastern corner of New Brunswick, Canada. Fishing, mining and forestry are the major industries in the county. The eastern section of the county is known for its Acadian culture.
The Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick is located in Fredericton. It was established in Saint John de jure when the colony was created in 1784, but came into session only in 1786, following the first elections in late 1785. It was the lower house in a bicameral legislature until 1891, when its upper house counterpart, the Legislative Council of New Brunswick, was abolished. Its members are called "Members of the Legislative Assembly," commonly referred to as "MLAs".
He was born in Caraquet, New Brunswick, the son of Agapit Blanchard and Anne-Marie Poirier, and the grandson of Tranquille Blanchard. He taught school in Neguac and in Caraquet. In 1867, he married Marie Gauvin. Blanchard was later named a justice of the peace.
Caraquet is a town in Gloucester County, New Brunswick, Canada.
Tranquille Blanchard was a merchant in New Brunswick whose mercantile endeavours were closely associated with Charles Robin and Company.
Neguac is a Canadian village in Northumberland County, New Brunswick.
A Roman Catholic, in the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly he helped lead the opposition to the Common Schools Act of 1871 that banned religious instruction in the province's school system based on the principle of Separation of church and state. Blanchard resigned his seat in the assembly and was appointed inspector of weights and measures for Restigouche County in 1876. From 1887 to 1892, he served as customs inspector at Caraquet. Blanchard was the first Acadian elected to the provincial assembly and the Canadian House of Commons from Gloucester County. He was defeated by Onésiphore Turgeon when he ran for reelection in 1900 and again in 1904. He died in Bathurst at the age of 66 after being injured in a vehicle accident.
The Common Schools Act of 1871 was legislation of the Canadian Province of New Brunswick, passed by the 22nd New Brunswick Legislative Assembly, which replaced the Parish Schools Act of 1858. The legislation aimed to abolish church-run schooling in New Brunswick and replace it with a system of government-run "common schools." The case of Maher v. Town Council of Portland was initiated as a result, and in the end, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council upheld the Act. The act was stridently opposed by the Roman Catholic Church and its adherents, and a series of clashes between New Brunswick Catholics and the provincial government culminated in the shooting of two people following riots at Caraquet in 1875, after which the act was substantially amended to implement a joint religious/secular schooling system.
The separation of church and state is a philosophic and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the nation state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular state and to disestablishment, the changing of an existing, formal relationship between the church and the state.
Restigouche County is located in north-central New Brunswick, Canada. The county is named for the Restigouche River which flows through the county and is famous for its salmon pools, which have attracted wealthy American and Canadian tourists to the region's summer colonies for decades. Forestry dominates the local economy.
