Mr. Speaker, on February 15, 1839, Chevalier De Lorimier and five of his fellow Patriots were executed for wanting democracy to be fully exercised in the colony of Lower Canada.
Rising up in arms after the British governor put a price on Papineau's head, the Patriots saw Colborne's army put several villages to fire and the sword.
In Upper Canada, the insurrection and ensuing repression were not as fierce as they were in Lower Canada, although 20 of Mackenzie's comrades were also executed.
In 1938, in Niagara, his grandson, Prime Minister Mackenzie King, inaugurated an arch erected in memory of the martyrs of the rebellion.
He said “This arch symbolizes the conquest of ideas and ideals”.
In 1967, this arch was demolished for dubious reasons. On this February 15, let us commemorate the glorious death of these martyrs of democracy.