Portrait of Speaker Robert Franklin Sutherland
Robert Franklin Sutherland has the historic distinction of having been the first anglophone member of Parliament to deliver a part of his acceptance speech in French.
He was born in Newmarket, Ontario in 1859, became a lawyer, and was elected to Parliament in Essex North in 1900. He was made Speaker in 1905 and won praise from all sides of the House for his fair and impartial performance. He declined to serve a second term in the chair, but he was re-elected to Parliament for three terms. He died in 1922, and his portrait was painted by John Wycliffe Lowes Forster c. 1906.