A Beloved Former Lord Mayor Of Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario Passes Away

A Brief Note from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

When I was hired to my first job in journalism at the St. Catharines Standard in 1979, my first assignment was covering the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Former Niagara-on-the-Lake Lord Mayor and federal MP Jake Froese

I had been away from the Niagara region, doing graduate studies at the Universities of Windsor and Western Ontario for a while, and I had some catching up to do on the local scene. But one of the first things I learned was that Jacob Froese – known to so many as Jake – was one of Niagara-on-the-Lake’s most beloved and respected public figures.

A tender fruit farmer by trade, he served as Niagara-on-the-Lake’s lord mayor from 1973 to 1978, and by the time I arrived in the town with pen and notebook, he was the federal Member of Parliament for a Progressive Conservative government led by Joe Clark, representing a riding that included his town and Niagara Falls.

The Clark government held a minority of seats and by early 1980, Trudeau’s Liberals defeated it. And as popular as Jake remained in Niagara-on-the-Lake, there were more Liberal votes in that election in the City of Niagara Falls, and like so many other Conservatives MPs across the country, he went down with the ship.

By then, I had been assigned to cover environmental issues full time, and I often wonder how much better things might have been in the environmental protection area if the party Jake was a member of had more of a chance to govern. After all, Joe Clark was the only prime minister who took time to meet with residents of Niagara-on-the-Lake over their concerns about toxic wastes washing into the Niagara River from industrial sites along the river’s U.S. shore. The residents walked away from that meeting, arranged in no small part by Jake Froese, with a feeling that Clark was sincere in his promise that he would do everything he could to work with U.S. authorities to see that the toxic discharges were stopped.

The Conservative’s environment minister at the time was John Fraser, who had earned a reputation as an effective lawyer for environmental protection in his home province of British Columbia. Fraser was scheduled to attend a public meeting with Froese in the days leading up to the 1980 election but, unfortunately, the meeting was called off because Fraser’s seat back home was also in serious jeopardy.

In a phone interview I did with Fraser following that election, he stressed how sorry he was that the meeting never happened and he gave me every reason to believe that he would have worked hard as an environment minister to reduce discharge of industrial poisons to the Niagara River and to the Great Lakes at large.

Whether that meeting would have made a difference to Jake Froese’s chances for re-election is a wide open question given how much the country was ready to give the Trudeau Liberals another chance at the time. At any rate, Jake Froese accepted his defeat with the same level of dignity he had shown throughout his political life before going back to his life as a farmer.

Jacob ‘Jake’ Froese died this past Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at age 87.

What follows is a media release on his passing, issued by the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, which includes information on visitations planned for this Saturday, January 19, and how you can otherwise express your sympathy.

PUBLIC NOTICE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 18, 2013, Niagara-on-the-Lake – On behalf of Town Council and staff, Lord Mayor Dave Eke expressed his sadness at the passing of Jacob Peter Froese, former Lord Mayor of the Town, on Wednesday, January 16, 2013.

Mr. Froese, aged 87, was Lord Mayor of the Town from 1973 – 1978. He leaves behind Tina, his beloved wife of 64 years, as well as seven children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Mr. Froese was pre-deceased by son James and his brothers Peter and Arthur.

The Froese family will receive friends at Orchard Park Bible Church, 434 Hunter Road, Niagara-on-the-Lake, on Saturday, January 19, 2013, from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. A private family interment will be held at Niagara Lakeshore Cemetery prior to the funeral service on Monday, January 21, 2013, at 11:00 a.m.

As per the family’s request, a memorial donation will be made to The Gideons. Those wishing to express their sympathy or make their own memorial donation can do so at www.gideons.ca.

 Flags at the Town Administration Building will be lowered to half-mast on Monday, January 21, 2013, as a sign of our respect and condolence.

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