Ulrick Chérubin

Ulrick Chérubin (December 24, 1943 – September 25, 2014) was a Canadian politician, who served as mayor of Amos, Quebec, from 2002 until his death in 2014.[2] He was one of the first Black Canadians to be elected a mayor in Quebec. Like other black mayors in Quebec history, Chérubin led a municipality which is virtually entirely white and Québécois.[3]

Ulrick Chérubin
Ulrick Chérubin during an event associated to Amos' centennial celebration.
Mayor of Amos, Quebec
In office
2002 – September 25, 2014
Preceded byMurielle Angers-Turpin
Succeeded byDonald Blanchet
Personal details
Born(1943-12-24)December 24, 1943
Jacmel, Haiti
DiedSeptember 25, 2014(2014-09-25) (aged 70)
Amos, Quebec, Canada
Spouse(s)Immacula Morriset[1]
ProfessionTeacher

Early life

The youngest of five children, Chérubin was born in Jacmel, Haiti, in 1943.[4] He was educated in Haiti, where he was a childhood friend and classmate of Michel Adrien, who would later become mayor of Mont-Laurier, Quebec.[3]

Fleeing the dictatorship regime of François Duvalier, Chérubin left Haiti while he was still studying mathematics in a Port-au-Prince university.[5] He moved to Canada in 1970 to study education at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières,[6] and subsequently taught religion in Cap-de-la-Madeleine.[6] In 1971, he married Immacula Morriset, a nurse also originally from Haiti.

Chérubin continued to teach in 1973, and also studied administration and English as a Second Language teaching at the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue.[3] He moved to Amos in 1974.

Political career

Chérubin was first elected as a municipal councillor in Amos in 1994, winning his seat with a five-hundred vote majority.[6] After being re-elected unopposed as a councillor in 1998, Chérubin was elected to the position of mayor of Amos. In 2004, he was awarded the Jackie Robinson Award, in honour of his status as a pioneering Black Canadian, by the Montreal Association of Black Business Persons and Professionals.[7]

In 2009, city councillors Charles Yancey and Chuck Turner of Boston, Massachusetts, sponsored a motion declaring January 2, 2010, to be Ulrick Chérubin Day in the City of Boston, when he visited the city.[1]

Chérubin was most recently re-elected in 2013, winning his fourth consecutive term, winning 73% of the vote in a victory over Amos municipal councillor Éric Mathieu.[8]

On November 10, 2013, Chérubin appeared on Le Banquier, the Quebec version of Deal or No Deal, where he won a total of $222,500. Chérubin, who was selected to take part in the program out of a pool of eight thousand initial applicants, appeared in order to promote and raise funds for the centennial celebration of the town of Amos.[9]

Death

On September 25, 2014, Chérubin died in Amos, aged 70 from cardiac failure.[2][10]

References
  1. "Honorable Ulrick Chérubin" (PDF). Office of the City Clerk, Boston, Massachusetts. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  2. "Le maire d'Amos, Ulrick Chérubin, est mort". Radio-Canada. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  3. Blatchford, Andy (31 March 2013). "How two Haitian friends became Quebec mayors". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  4. "Ulrick Chérubin". Cape Breton Post (in French). 7 October 2013. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  5. http://www.lechoabitibien.ca/actualites/politique.html
  6. Pierre, Samuel (2007). Ces Québécois venus d'Haïti (in French). Presses inter Polytechnique. pp. 451–453. ISBN 978-2553014116.
  7. "Three honoured with Jackie Robinson Awards". The Gazette, May 9, 2004.
  8. "Ulrick Chérubin récolte un quatrième mandat à la mairie d'Amos". Radio-Canada (in French). 3 November 2013. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  9. Guindon, Martin (10 November 2013). "Ulrick Chérubin gagne 222 500 $ au Banquier". Abitibi Express (in French). Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  10. "Ulrick Cherubin, one of Canada's first black mayors, dead at 70". Sun News Network, September 25, 2014.
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