=Mitchell, Robert Menzies, Hon.= (Weyburn, Sask.), is a native of Port Union, Ont., where he was born October 28, 1865, the son of James Mitchell, a farmer, and Elizabeth Rodger, his wife. His father came of Scottish ancestry, some of whose descendants settled in Canada and some in Australia. Madame Melba, the great Australian prima donna, whose maiden name was Nellie Mitchell, is a cousin of the subject of this sketch. The latter was educated at Orangeville High School and Trinity Medical School, Toronto, graduating M.D., C.M. in April, 1892. He at once commenced the practice of medicine at Dundalk, Dufferin County, Ont., and remained there until 1899, when he settled at Weyburn, Sask., and continued in active practice there until 1907. He was Chairman of the Weyburn Public School Board for ten years, and of the High School Board for five years. In August, 1908, he was elected to the Saskatchewan Legislature as a Liberal for the constituency of Weyburn, and has been re-elected at each ensuing election. He was Chairman of the Private Bills and Railways Committee of the Legislature for six years, and was chosen as Deputy Speaker in 1916. Shortly afterward he was made Speaker, and on his return to the House after the general elections of 1917 was re-elected to that office. Though a Liberal his fairness and impartiality in the conduct of debate has made him universally popular among politicians of all shades of opinion. He is a member of the following fraternal orders: A.F. & A.M., I.O.O.F., and C.O.F.; of the Weyburn Club, and the Assiniboia Club, Regina. His recreations are football and curling, and in religion he is a Presbyterian. On August 17, 1892, he married Margaret, daughter of Donald and Flora McKinnon, Badjeros, Ont., and his two sons have both served their country with honor in the great war. R. C. Mitchell, born July 11, 1893, went overseas with the First Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1914, and D. J. Mitchell, born February 15, 1895, became a member of the Royal Air Force a year or so later.
=Lemieux, the Honorable Sir François-Xavier=, Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Quebec, was born at Levis on the 9th of April, 1851, the son of Antoine and Henriette (Lagueux) Lemieux. From the Levis College he entered the Quebec Seminary and afterwards graduated from Laval University, in 1872, taking the degree of LL.B. In the same year he started on his career as a lawyer in the city of Quebec, taking rank almost immediately as an efficient pleader in the criminal courts of the Lower St. Lawrence districts. His eloquent fluency and finesse as a defender brought him into a lucrative practice; and there were in time few prominent cases of criminality brought into court in which his services were not sought after. Nor did his legal acumen in winning cases arouse any envious feeling against him among his legal brethren, since in 1896 he was elected Batonnier of the Quebec Bar, and in the following year Batonnier-General of the Provincial Bar. Turning his attention to politics, he sat as member of Levis in the Legislative Assembly for nine years, and afterwards as member for Bonaventure, for three years. As an orator, he has a marvellous faculty on the hustings of carrying any large audience with him in his argument. At length the widest fame came to him when he was called upon to defend Louis Riel, the rebel leader of the half-breeds and Indians in the North-West, in 1885. The charge of high treason against the culprit was sustained, but his legal defender was nevertheless acclaimed as one of the shrewdest lawyers that could have been engaged to defend him. Subsequently, in 1892, he was chosen to defend the Honorable Honore Mercier, Premier of Quebec, before the criminal court, under charges of maladministration. Mr. Mercier was honorably acquitted. Five years after the subject of this biography was appointed Puisne Judge in the district of Arthabaska and afterwards in Sherbrooke. From Sherbrooke, he was finally removed to Quebec where he holds the office of Chief Justice for the Province of Quebec. The literary talents of Sir François have been proven by his lectures and essays. His acumen as a judge has been openly acknowledged by his professional associates. He is a citizen well worthy the honor conferred upon him by King George and by Laval University, in the one case of Knighthood and in the other an LL.D. His father-in-law, the late Justice Plamondon, was a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec, Miss Diana Plamondon becoming his wife in 1874.