John Kucherepa

Who was John Kucherepa?

John William Kucherepa was a Progressive Conservative party member of the Canadian House of Commons.

Kucherepa was born in Toronto, Ontario where he attended the Humberside Collegiate Institute and Western High School of Commerce in his youth. He then studied medicine at the University of Toronto during which time he served in World War II under the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps for two years.

In 1952, after establishing a medical practice in Toronto's High Park neighbourhood, Kucherepa became the Ward 7 member of Toronto's city council. While he was still a city alderman, he campaigned in the 1957 federal election, winning the High Park riding. After some tension sitting as both a Member of Parliament and a city alderman, he resigned from Toronto City Council on January 1958. Between 1956 and 1958, Kucherepa was also the Ukrainian Council of Canada's president following years of service in Toronto's Ukrainian community.

Kucherepa was re-elected for a second term at High Park in the 1958 election, but was defeated in the 1962 election by Pat Cameron of the Liberal party, from whom he won the riding in 1957.