Jean Alfred, Ph.D. (March 10, 1940 – July 20, 2015) was a politician in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. He was a member of the

National Assembly of Quebec The National Assembly of Quebec (officially in french: link=no, Assemblée nationale du Québec) is the legislative body of the province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members of the National Assembly; french: link=no, déput ...

as a member of the

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (; ; PQ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishin ...

from 1976 to 1981. Alfred was born in Ouanaminthe, Haiti, to Oracius Alfred and Prunelie Occean. He completed his college studies and some university courses at Port-au-Prince before moving to Ottawa, where he obtained a degree in philosophy from the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottaw ...

. He also received a master's degree in psycho-pedagogy as well as a Ph.D. in education. Prior to his entry into politics, he taught for several years in Haiti and in the

Outaouais Outaouais (, ; also commonly called The Outaouais) is a region of western Quebec, Canada. It includes the city of Gatineau, the municipality of Val-des-Monts and the Papineau region. Geographically, it is located on the north side of the Ottaw ...

region. He taught again after his political career and was a school board commissioner for the Commission Scolaire des Draveurs. In 1975, he was elected as a councillor for Gatineau

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

and later entered provincial politics where he was elected in Papineau as a Parti Québécois candidate, becoming the first Black person to be elected to the

. He served a full term as a PQ and Independent member but was defeated in the newly formed riding of Chapleau which portions were split from Gatineau and Papineau. He was a candidate again in 1989, but lost to the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

, John Kehoe. He made a brief attempt at federal politics but failed to become a Bloc Québécois prior to the 1997 elections.

Electoral record (partial)

External links

* 1940 births 2015 deaths Gatineau city councillors Haitian Quebecers Haitian emigrants to Canada Naturalized citizens of Canada Parti Québécois MNAs People from Nord-Est (department) University of Ottawa alumni Black Canadian politicians Foreign-born Canadian politicians {{PartiQuébécois-Quebec-MNA-stub