Lafontaine, Sir Louis Hippolyte, << la fawn TEHN, lwee ee paw LEET >> (1807-1864), was a French-Canadian political leader. He worked to obtain self-government for Britain’s Canadian colonies. Lafontaine supported French-Canadian patriot Louis Papineau before Papineau led a rebellion in Lower Canada in 1837. Lafontaine backed the Act of Union, a British law that united the colonies of Upper Canada and Lower Canada into a colony called the Province of Canada in 1841. In 1842 and 1843, Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin served as joint leaders of the colonial government. The colony gained self-government in local affairs in 1848. Lafontaine and Baldwin served as joint prime ministers from 1848 to 1851. Lafontaine was born on Oct. 4, 1807, in Boucherville, Lower Canada (now Quebec). He became a baronet in 1854. He died on Feb. 26, 1864.
