About: Ezekiel Hart

Ezekiel Hart was a Jewish Canadian entrepreneur and politician, and the first Jew to be elected to public office in the British Empire. He was elected three times by the voters of Trois-Rivières to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. Francophone members consistently prevented him from taking his seat by observing that as a Jew, he could not take the oath of office, which included the phrase "on the true faith of a Christian".