Frederick Debartzch Monk

Frederick Debartzch Monk (April 6, 1856 – May 15, 1914) was a Canadian lawyer and politician.

Born in Montreal, Canada East, Monk was the son of Justice Samuel Cornwallis Monk (1814–1888) and Rosalie Caroline Debartzch (1819–1889), daughter of Pierre-Dominique Debartzch. His grandmother, Anne (Gugy) Monk was a daughter of Louis Gugy. He received a bachelor of civil law degree in 1877 from McGill University and was called to the Quebec Bar in 1878. From 1888 to 1914, he taught in the faculty of law at the Université Laval. In 1893, he was made a Queen's Counsel.

Monk was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in 1896 as a Conservative member of Parliament for the riding of Jacques Cartier. He was re-elected in 1900, 1904 and 1908. In 1901 his political program, entitled "Canada for Canadians," presented his beliefs and hopes for Canada: respect for Canada's two founding "races," to whom, he said, it rightfully belonged, and a Canada autonomous in its relations with the British empire, and empowered to direct its own economic development. However his aspirations for Canada were seen to be opposed to the Conservative Party's long-standing belief in ties to Britain.

In 1909, Monk pressed the House of Commons to appoint a committee of MPs to investigate methods of proportional representation.

Monk was re-elected in 1911. He resigned from Cabinet on October 28, 1912, after disagreeing with Robert Borden over the refusal of a referendum on Canadian purchase of three dreadnought class ships for Wilfrid Laurier's "Tin Pot Navy." From 1911 to 1912, he was the minister of public works. Monk continued as a backbench MP, though his relations with the Conservative Party were increasingly strained, until March 2, 1914, when he resigned from the House of Commons due to ill health. He died two months later and was entombed at the Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery in Montreal.

His son, Frederick Arthur Monk, was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec from 1935 to 1936.

Electoral record

By-election: On Monk being appointed minister of public works, October 10, 1911

Archives There is a Frederick Debartzch Monk fonds at Library and Archives Canada.