Henry Judah

In the 1830s, Judah's father-in-law, René-Joseph Kimber, was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, as a supporter of the Parti canadien.

[1][9] Unlike his cousin Ezekiel Hart, who had been twice elected to the Assembly of Lower Canada but was refused admittance because he was Jewish, Judah did not have any difficulty in taking his seat.

Some twenty years after Hart had been denied his seat, the provincial Parliament had passed Jewish emancipation legislation to give Jews equal legal rights with other British subjects.

It is not clear if Judah was able to sit because of this provision, or if he had converted following his marriage to his wife, but in any event he sat during the legislative session of 1843.

[1][12] After the 1843 session concluded, the Judahs went on a lengthy trip to Europe, where they met up with Louis-Joseph Papineau, then in exile because of his role in the Lower Canada Rebellion.

They appear to have been firm friends, agreeing in their lively discussions on Canadian politics, and at one point sharing rental accommodations.

The Judahs appear to have given Papineau financial support, as he was without income and struggling to obtain arrears for his pre-Rebellion service as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada.

His work on the commission took up a significant amount of time and energy, as it required case-by-case analysis of appropriate compensation and boundary allocations.

[1][11][15] Although he was not involved directly in electoral politics, Judah remained connected to the LaFontaine group, later known as the Parti bleu.