Where’s the diversity? anti-racism leader asks
Says Niagara’s political leadership should better reflect community’s cultural diversity
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Part 2 of a two-part series
Trecia McLennon knew she faced an uphill battle when she ran in last year’s federal election.
Racism, she said, “is always something you have to take into consideration, but in my case it was race and gender.”
For many considering running for political office, it can “put a chill on people putting their hand up and moving forward,” said McLennon, who works as an intercultural communications co-ordinator at Brock University’s office of human rights and equity services.
“I think there’s a chill for anyone right now.”
Meanwhile, in the wake of recent vandalism against the homes and offices of local elected officials as well as protests that include reports of racism, McLennon said divisiveness in society seems to be getting worse.
“There’s a hatefulness around the rhetoric that I think is way past the line ... We really need a shift in our culture,” she said. “I know it’s been a really rough time for everybody. We have to find a way to put a stop to the kind of cynicism where we’re only going to increase polarization and disdain for one another.
“We’re forgetting our common humanity. We need to take a deep breath and a step back, and calm the hell down.”
Operation Black Vote Canada chair Velma Morgan called it an obstacle that keeps many people from seeking office.
“You have to ask a woman seven times before she decides to run, because she understands that she’s going to be criticized way more than her male counterparts about the way she looks, the way she speaks, any mistake she makes is going to be amplified,” Morgan said.
“It’s even worse for Black candidates. We’re scrutinized more. Any error in anything gets magnified a hundred times more than anyone else. We have to almost be perfect, which is impossible.”
Despite her misgivings, McLennon said she chose to run after being recruited in the St. Catharines riding for the New Democratic Party.
Although she finished third with 12,294 votes compared to 22,071 for Liberal MP Chris Bittle and 19,048 for Krystina Waler of the Conservatives, she called it a “profoundly positive” experience.
“There was a little bit of magic happening in that whole experience,” she said, adding people she worked with and met “were profoundly respectful and decent with one another.”
McLennon said she’s now seriously considering throwing her hat in the ring for the Oct. 24 municipal election.
“I’ve had some people poking at me for a municipal run. I’m considering it. I haven’t ruled anything out, but I haven’t made a firm decision either way,” she said.
Of the tens of thousands of politicians Canada-wide at all levels of government, Operation Black Vote Canada has been able to identify just 45 who are Black.
That includes 19 municipal, 14 at the provincial level, eight federal members of parliament and four senators, listed on the organization’s website.
Morgan said the list is likely missing some at the municipal level, and it doesn’t include school board trustees.
Regardless, “it’s definitely less than 100 people at all three levels of government across the country,” and disproportionately low compared to the 1.2 million Black Canadians.
Even in Toronto, one of Canada’s most culturally diverse communities, she said “we’ve only had one Black city councillor in forever,” referring to Michael Thompson, who represents the Scarborough Centre ward and serves as deputy mayor.
“Look at the demographics of Toronto, and that’s just an example,” she said.
Niagara’s Black population is far smaller, with 1.2 per cent of residents identified as Black here compared to 8.9 per cent in Toronto.
Yet historically, disproportionately few Black politicians have been elected in Niagara communities at the municipal, provincial or federal levels. The most recent was Brian Dorsey, who represented Ward 5 Grantham on St. Catharines city council from 2003 to 2006.
Saleh Waziruddin, from the Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association, said when political leadership does not represent the diversity of the community, it sends a negative message to people who are Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC).
“When people look at their elected representatives or candidates or constituency office staff, you want to see yourself reflected in there. Otherwise, it sends a message that for all the talk of equality and diversity, there’s a barrier and it goes only so far,” he said.
Morgan said Operation Black Vote Canada was founded in 2004 to address that disparity.
“At the end of the day, we want to see more Black Canadians elected and sitting at the seat where they’re making decisions that affect us all,” she said.
The non-profit, non-partisan organization supports the election of Black people to public office by educating, motivating and advocating for Black Canadians to participate in Canada’s government, agencies, boards, commissions, civil service and political process at all levels.
Morgan said the organization is also working to “demystify the process” for people who want to get involved as a candidate, campaign worker or policy adviser.
“We want to make sure every step of the way, policies and decisions are being made with a diverse viewpoint,” she said.
With provincial and municipal elections coming this year Morgan expects a busy 2022 for her organization.
As the June 2 provincial election nears, the group has been encouraging political parties to nominate more Black Canadians as candidates — and to nominate them in ridings they can win.
“It’s not good enough to say there’s a Black person here, when you know that you haven’t won that riding in 50 years. What are the chances of you winning this time, right?” she said.
The political parties also need to provide support the candidates need to win, including financial resources and backing from party leadership.
“There’s no support for Black people who wanted to get involved in politics, whether on the political side or bureaucracy side,” Morgan said. “A lot of people didn’t even know where the door was to enter.”
She said riding associations need to be supportive of potential Black candidates, and continue to provide resources and help even after a successful campaign.
“Oftentimes, Black candidates will come in and if they’re able to organize and become the candidates, people in the riding association, we’ve been told, have not been very supportive of them,” Morgan said.
She said the problems seem to be systemic in nature.
“Mostly, the ridings they’re focusing on are the winnable ridings or ridings with strong white males. Those are the ridings where the leader will visit several times, resources are there. There are events happening there,” she said.
“You need to do that for all the candidates, and particularly Black candidates that have it a little bit harder simply because of systemic racism where some people still think we shouldn’t be in those positions — that we’re not qualified. Chances are, we’re probably more qualified than the person we’re running against because we’ve had to be more qualified in everything that we do in order to be successful.”
Meanwhile, she said, Black candidates at all levels sometimes face racism at the doors of voters.
“We know they don’t go canvassing by themselves, especially if they’re a Black male, and don’t go after a certain time. It’s simply because it’s not safe for you,” Morgan said. “Someone’s going to complain, call the police and wonder what are you doing in this neighbourhood? Why are you knocking on my door?”
Candidates have faced racial remarks from people yelling at them to get off their property, and different things … “so you don’t seem as scary to people who think that Black people are scary.”
Waziruddin said he experienced racism firsthand as a candidate for the Communist Party of Canada in past elections.
“It always was strange that I was the only BIPOC person in the races I ran in,” he said. “Even beyond the candidates, the constituency office reps and the campaign staff have not been diverse.
Waziruddin said the anti-racism association is working to address the disparity, including by asking candidates in upcoming elections about increasing the diversity of their constituency staff.
“It was always strange,” he said. “I know St. Catharines is more diverse than this, so why is it that almost everybody involved is white?”
Diversity in Niagara
Based on 2016 census data, Niagara’s Black population is the largest visible minority group in the region, with 7,970 residents.
Other visible minority groups include South Asian, 6,170; Chinese, 6,055; Latin American, 4,620; Filipino, 3,900; Arab, 2,570; southeast Asian, 2,050; Multiple visible minorities, 1,765; Korean, 1,445; west Asian, 860; Japanese, 730; other minority groups, 690.
Non-minority residents, including Indigenous people, totalled 399,345.
