Samuel Factor (Canadian politician)
{{Short description|Canadian politician}}
{{for|the chess player|Samuel Factor}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| name = Samuel Factor
| honorific-suffix =
| image =
| imagesize =
| constituency_MP = Toronto West Centre
| parliament = Canadian
| predecessor = Horatio Clarence Hocken
| successor = District abolished
| term_start = 1930
| term_end = 1935
| constituency_MP2 = Spadina
| parliament2 = Canadian
| predecessor2 = District created
| successor2 = David Croll
| term_start2 = 1935
| term_end2 = 1945
| birth_date = {{birth date|1892|10|26}}
| birth_place = Russia
| death_date = {{death date and age|1962|08|21|1892|10|26}}
| death_place =
| nationality =
| spouse =
| party = Liberal
| committees = Chair, Special Committee on the Dominion elections act, 1938 (armed services) (1943-1944)
| relations =
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| residence =
| alma_mater =
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}}
Samuel "Sam" Factor, {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|KC}} (October 26, 1892 – August 21, 1962) was a Canadian politician, lawyer and jurist and the first Jewish Member of Parliament elected to the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario."Dates in history", Toronto Star, December 3, 1992Judge Samuel Factor was MP 15 years, Toronto Daily Star, August 22, 1962
Background
Born in Tsarist Russia, Factor's family settled in Toronto when he was 10 years old. He attended McCaul Public School and Jarvis Collegiate Institute and then graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School where he earned a silver medal and two scholarships. He enlisted in the Canadian Army during World War I and served as a lieutenant.
Politics
Factor was elected to the Toronto School Board in 1923 and 1924 before winning an aldermanic seat representing Ward 4 on Toronto City Council where he served from 1926 until 1928.
In 1930, he was elected to the House of Commons as the Liberal MP for Toronto West Centre, a riding that was home to much of Toronto's Jewish population as well as many other recent immigrants. He defeated former Mayor of Toronto Tommy Church in what had been a Conservative riding bucking a national trend in the 1930 federal election that saw the Conservatives defeating the incumbent Liberal government of William Lyon Mackenzie King. He was the only Liberal elected from Toronto in that election.Gerald Owen, "Mackenzie King's unlikely imitator", National Post, 4 February 2006 Factor was re-elected in the 1935 election for the newly created riding of Spadina. He was again re-elected in 1940{{Canadian Parliament links|ID=5349|2=Samuel Factor|nolist=yes}} and, with the loss of two other Liberal MPs in Toronto, was again the city's only representative in the Liberal caucus
With two other MPs, A.A. Heaps of Winnipeg and Sam Jacobs of Montreal, Factor fought against quotas on Jewish immigration and anti-Semitism.[http://mikan3.archives.ca/pam/public_mikan/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=103304&rec_nbr_list=103304 Description Full Display – Search Archives – Library and Archives Canada]{{dead link|date=May 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
While serving in Parliament during World War II, Factor enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force, retiring in 1944 with the rank of Squadron Leader.
Judiciary
In 1945, Factor was appointed to the bench by Prime Minister King, freeing up his Spadina riding for David Croll.[http://www.beth-tzedec.org/home.do?ch=content&cid=4718 Beth Tzedec – david croll] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060708080037/http://www.beth-tzedec.org/home.do?ch=content&cid=4718 |date=2006-07-08 }} He served as a York County Court judge until 1960. He attracted notice as a judge for his attitude towards drug addicts viewing them as individuals with an illness rather than criminals and pleaded with the federal government to change the law so that they could be sent by the court to hospital for treatment rather than prison. He believed that drug dealers should be treated harshly by the law, however.Samuel Factor - Toronto Judge Opposed Jailing Drug Addicts, Globe and Mail, August 22, 1962
References
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Category:Canadian people of Russian-Jewish descent
Category:Canadian King's Counsel
Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Canada
Category:Jewish Canadian politicians
Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs
Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario
Category:Jewish Russian politicians
Category:Toronto city councillors
Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada