Did you know that the first black police officer in Quebec was hired less than 50 years ago?

MISE À DAY

“I'm on my way to the future, I'm on my way to somewhere else where the challenge will be for me to build something from nothing, far from the brutality of things that crumble to thousands miles of ocean. – Neil Bissoondath

The Haitian Years

Édouard Anglade was born in Port-au-Prince in 1944. His father was a small public works contractor from an old family of provincial notables, his mother was a descendant of one of the greatest Haitian composers of the twentieth century, Occide Jeanty . The year that Édouard turns 13, his uncle Franck Sylvain, judge at the Court of Cassation, becomes provisional president of Haiti. 

Édouard, after his classical studies and with the rise to power of the dictator François Duvalier, decided to immigrate to Quebec where he joined his sister and his brother-in-law, Doctor Hillel, in Montreal. Unable to obtain a student visa, he left for New York. A few months later, he finally obtained his visa and returned to Montreal, where he began studying computer science while working as a financial advisor at Crown Life. His arrival in Montreal coincides with that of the first wave of Haitian exiles.

Formative years

In Montreal, Édouard will be an organizer of cultural and sports associations. He thus finds his two great passions, the piano and sport. After obtaining Canadian citizenship, he was admitted to the police academy. This is the first time a black person has been admitted to this school. On January 4, 1974, he joined the ranks of the Montreal police and was assigned to Post 9. 

For two years, he worked as a car radio patrolman and in 1976, after courses in preparation for the fight against terrorism, he worked as an athlete security officer during the Olympic Games. 

In 1977 , he was transferred to the narcotics section and became a double agent in charge of infiltrating and dismantling various mafia networks. 

In 1983, he was assigned to the electronic surveillance section.

Template for communities

Édouard had the idea of ​​a police force close to the communities. Indeed, from 1981, apart from his relations with Haitian community organizations, he met members of organizations such as the Negro Community Center and the Black Community Center of Quebec. He succeeds in establishing links with the marginalized young people of these communities and becomes a role model for many of them.

Édouard Anglade was a role model for young people from marginalized communities. From 1981, he periodically met members of the management committees of certain organizations and took part in numerous workshops, symposiums and conferences. According to this man who has distinguished himself throughout his career, the police must forge bonds of trust with the population.

For Édouard, the police institution had to play a preventive role by establishing relationships of trust with black communities.

In 1994, he published his book Nom de Code with CIDIHCA Editions , Mao: journey of a Haitian policeman in Montreal, with a preface by Jacques Duchesneau, then director of the Police Department.

He also drafted a policy on rapprochement with black communities for the direction of the Police Department.

He received two Governor General's Distinguished Service Awards in 1995 and 2004, as well as a certificate of recognition for exemplary conduct from the SPVM. He will also be named honorary citizen of the city of Montreal in 1997.

Édouard Anglade is a model not only for young blacks, but for all citizens of the city of Montreal, wearing the ideal of a police force close to the citizens. He died on June 12, 2007 in Montreal. A week later, the National Assembly of Quebec pays him a posthumous tribute.

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