Researching Robert Christie

He was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia in 1787, the son of a Scottish immigrant. He attended the King's Collegiate School in Windsor and went to Quebec in 1805. He became an attorney in 1810 and served in the militia during the War of 1812. In 1816, he became the editor for the Quebec Telegraph, a weekly bilingual newspaper. In 1827, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada representing Gaspé and was appointed chairman of the Court of Quarter Sessions. He came into conflict with the assembly for removing magistrates who opposed the governor and, in 1829, he was expelled from the Legislative Assembly. However, the constituents of Gaspé continued to vote him back in and he was expelled four more times. The government in Britain supported Christie.

Later, Christie attempted to start a movement in Gaspé to separate from Lower Canada and join the province of New Brunswick. This alienated the voters of the region and he was not re-elected in 1833.

In 1841, however, he was elected to the 1st Parliament of the Province of Canada, again representing Gaspé, and he continue to represent the region until 1854. He introduced the motion in 1842 to move the capital from Kingston to Montreal. He edited the newspaper Quebec Mercury from 1848 to 1850.

Christie died at Quebec City in 1856, and was buried at Mount Hermon Cemetery in Sillery.

He was born in Toronto in 1913 and received a B.A. from the University of Toronto. In 1936, he moved to England where he performed with various companies including the Old Vic Company. He served with the Canadian Army during World War II. After the war, he joined the CBC Radio Drama Department. He performed the role of Sir John A. Macdonald in the 1949 play Riel by John Coulter. He reprised his role in the CBC Television educational series Exploring Minds.

He joined the performing company at the Stratford Festival in 1953 and appeared on Broadway in Tamburlaine by Christopher Marlowe in 1956 and Love and Libel by Robertson Davies in 1960. In 1967, he appeared on CBC television in the series Hatch's Mill. He taught acting at Ryerson Polytechnic University.

He served as vice-president of the Canadian Mutual Fire Insurance Company and was a director of the Canada West Farmer's Mutual and Stock Insurance Company. He later was named Inspector of Asylums and Prisons. He died in 1914. He was the last surviving member of the first Ontario legislature at the time of his death.