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. 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.

Early life

The youngest of five children, Chérubin was born in Jacmel, Haiti in 1943. 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. He subsequently moved to Canada in 1970 to study education at theUniversité du Québec à Trois-Rivières. He subsequently taught religion in Cap-de-la-Madeleine. In 1973, Chérubin moved to Amos, where he continued to teach, and also studied administration and English as a Second Language teaching at the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue.

Political career

Chérubin was first elected as a municipal councillor in Amos in 1994, winning his seat with a five-hundred vote majority.[5] 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.

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.

Chérubin was most recently re-elected in 2013, winning 73% of the vote in a victory over Amos municipal councillor Éric Mathieu.

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.

Death

On September 25, 2014, Chérubin died in Amos, aged 70, after falling ill at his residence.