People
A Lone Voice in the Municipal Council Chambers of a Predominantly Sikh-Canadian Region:
Gurpreet Singh Dhillon
SAN GREWAL
Ethnic demographics in the Peel Region -- a suburb of Toronto in Ontario, Canada -- have changed dramatically over the past two decades, sparking a number of municipal controversies. But one thing hasn’t changed in that transformation: the overwhelmingly white city councils that make the rules.
In Brampton and Mississauga, where visible minorities together make up more than 60 per cent of the populace, voters once again elected only one incoming councillor who is not white — out of 23.
One obvious reason is the incumbent effect: it’s hard for new candidates to push past the value of name recognition, financial backing and endorsements enjoyed by long-time municipal politicians.
But what is missed when a governing body poorly reflects its constituency, and how can this non-progressive trend in Peel be turned around?
“Being an elected member from a particular community or faith that is a visible minority is helpful, in that when new policies and bylaws are being drafted, I can provide practical advice and cultural context,” points out Gurpreet Singh Dhillon, a Sikh-Canadian, elected as the new councillor for Brampton Wards 9 and 10.
Statistics from the 2011 National Household Survey show that Brampton’s population of 521,315 included 346,230 visible-minority residents -- 67 per cent. About 40 per cent of the city’s residents are of South Asian descent, a majority of them Sikhs.
Gurpreet says that on many policies being debated at city hall, he will provide a unique and needed perspective, “as to why it may or may not be a good policy, since it could unfairly discriminate against a particular community.”
Numerous issues have divided public opinion in Brampton along cultural lines -- among them, a bylaw allowing fireworks for Diwali celebrations, street parking around places of worship, concerns about large prayer services held in residences, and the proliferation of basement apartments.
The dilemma over secondary units in houses, commonly known as basement apartments, is perhaps the most heated of these culturally divisive issues. The province required legalizing all such units in 2012, but it’s been left to individual cities to determine how to regulate secondary suites.
Brampton critics say those extra units lead to overcrowded schools, roads and hospital emergency rooms, while property values decrease because of packed residential streets and neglected homes. Many recent immigrants argue that with Peel’s shortage of affordable housing -- and wait lists at more than nine years, the longest in Ontario -- basement apartments are the only affordable option until they can get established and move on to home ownership.
It’s hard to strike up a conversation in Brampton about city politics without being drawn into this volatile topic.
“I want to take a lead on the issue,” Gurpreet says.
While the rookie councillor says he wants to represent all of his constituents, including those opposed to secondary units, he hopes he won’t be the only councillor who understands both sides of the debate.
“I was born and raised in Canada. It would be nice to see as much diversity of perspectives on council as there is among our residents.”
In Mississauga, it’s a similar story. For the third term in a row, in a city where visible-minority residents made up 54 per cent of the population in the 2011 census -- again, a substantial percentage is Sikh -- an all-white council will deal with an increasing number of culturally sensitive concerns.
“We need a more sensitive approach to issues like new mosques and the (proposed) crematorium,” says veteran Mississauga politician Carolyn Parrish, who will be back for her second term on city council, representing Ward 5. She will now represent an area that includes Malton, north of Pearson International Airport, which has one of the city’s highest percentages of Sikhs and other visible-minority residents.
“Whereas the city now says ‘no’ and finds a way to block things, we should be creating spaces. Some in Ward 5 didn’t want a crematorium too close to houses,” she says, “but they want one somewhere in the area.”
Parrish was referring to a controversial crematorium application addressed throughout this last term of council, before it was ultimately rejected. Many residents from various faith groups backed it, arguing there are not enough facilities in Mississauga where their traditional last rites can be carried out.
It’s one of the issues Simmer Kaur had pledged to address when she ran unsuccessfully for the Ward 5 seat in 2010 and again in a 2011 by-election.
She’s one of a growing number of Sikhs and other South Asians in Peel gaining support for her commitment to municipal politics. But she partly places the blame for poor representation on her own Sikh-Canadian community.
She mentions the lack of interest in municipal politics where she grew up.
“In Punjab, no one pays much attention to the municipal level. All the power and influence is at the federal and state level. Everyone wants to be an MP or MLA (the equivalent of a MPP). We bring that mentality here.”
She also places some of the blame on the big-three political parties in Canada, all of which aggressively target ethnic voting blocs in places such as Brampton and Mississauga, drawing candidates and attention away from the municipal level, where parties don’t play a role. “They have flooded us to win seats in Queen’s Park and Ottawa.”
However accurate her anecdotal explanations may be, more than 70 visible minority candidates did run -- all unsuccessfully -- in Mississauga’s recent municipal election.
Without the organizational strength and money that comes with the backing of a political party, Simmer Kaur says that at the municipal level it’s difficult for visible-minority candidates to mount a viable challenge against long-sitting incumbents.
But, if ethnic communities are serious about being more directly represented, she says, they need to become better organized, as they have at higher levels of government.
Simmer didn’t bother running in last month’s election after learning that Parrish, whom she supports, was vying for the seat vacated when Bonnie Crombie successfully ran for the mayor’s job.
Parrish says: “Most city councillors don’t have that kind of experience and the sensitivity that comes from it. But just because they don’t reflect certain communities, doesn’t mean they can’t effectively represent them, if they want to learn. And I’m not talking about putting on an outfit and showing up at some cultural event to get your picture taken.”
Annette Groves is the only visible-minority member on the Town of Caledon’s new council, and she will also represent constituents on Peel Region council. As a Canadian of Jamaican-South Asian descent, she says the region’s changing demographics present a challenge for politicians.
“[Sikh and other] South Asian Canadians are starting to move into Caledon, but the big shift has been the growth of the Italian-Canadian community here.”
Groves, like Parrish, pushes back against any suggestion that councils have to mirror their constituents. But both admit that Peel’s rapidly changing demographics and the attendant issues would be better dealt with by more diversity.
“I know the demographics, especially in Caledon now, are going to keep changing dramatically,” Groves says. “I just don’t want to be known as ‘Annette the brown girl.’ I want to be known as Annette, who fights for everyone. That’s how I first got elected — I beat three white men.”
Gurpreet Singh ran in a predominantly Sikh area of Brampton, but says he, too, has received support from a wide swath of the city’s residents.
“Issues like affordable housing are colour-blind. Sure, there’s a lot of new immigrants who need that type of help, and I’m going to fight for them, but I’ll also be fighting for everybody else who needs better housing in Peel.”
Parrish says change on Peel’s city councils is inevitable: “You’re not going to see only one out of 23 in Mississauga and Brampton much longer.”
[Courtesy: The Toronto Star. Edited for sikhchic.com]
November 22, 2014
Conversation about this article
1: R Singh (Canada), November 23, 2014, 10:10 AM.
South Asian candidates have not bothered to make inroads outside their narrow spectrums. They somehow think just one or two issues pertaining to the 'community', i.e., their own immediate group, will get them elected. Unless they become inclusive, in sync with the inclusiveness they demand, there will be no big urge to vote for them. No one is going to flock to the voting booths to get in people you know nothing about or will never see again once elected. For those who cannot suffer through the advertisement-heavy South Asian media, they hardly exist.