Joseph Hamelin (February 22, 1873 the son of Firmin Hamelin and Clemence Breland, and was educated in St. Boniface and at the Juniorate of the Sacred Heart in Ottawa, Ontario. He then returned to Manitoba and worked as a merchant, becoming manager of the Joseph Hamelin Co. general store in Ste. Rose du Lac in 1912.
Hamelin was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 1914 provincial election. Running for the Conservative Party in Ste. Rose, Hamelin was one of only five Conservatives to win re-election, He was again returned in the 1920 election, by 830 votes in the La Verendrye constituency.
In 1900 at Laurier, Manitoba, he married Parmélie Gamache. They had 10 children. Hamelin died in Niagara Falls, Ontario on August 29, 1947.