Education
Born in Cap-Haïtien in 1909, Monestime studied rural medicine and wrote three books on the subject.
Born in Cap-Haïtien in 1909, Monestime studied rural medicine and wrote three books on the subject.
He moved to Quebec City in the 1940s. After upgrading his medical training he planned a move to Timmins, Ontario to set up a medical practice, but when he stopped in Mattawa en route, he was convinced by a restaurant owner to stay in that town and set up practice there instead. Monestime practiced medicine in Mattawa until 1964, when he was elected the town"s mayor.
Except for one year that he took off for personal reasons, he remained mayor until his death in 1977.
Monestime was very active with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, and served as its national director He considered running federally for the party, and in 1971 he ran and lost in a bid for the presidency of the party.
A Red Tory, Monestime was attracted to the party because of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker"s Bill of Rights. On February 29, 1976, Monestime"s 21-year-old son, Fedia, was shot and killed outside the Transport-Canada Hotel in Mattawa.
He was in a group chasing a man who had fired his rifle into the wall after a bar fight, when the man fired on them, also injuring three others
Ralph Childerhose was charged with murder and acquitted, a decision Monestime considered unjust. In 2014, Frantz Liautaud, the current ambassador of Haiti to Canada, visited Mattawa for a gala celebration of the 50th anniversary of Monestime"s first election as mayor.