Maytree Foundation study addresses lack of diversity in elected office
Former MPP candidate Dionne Coley
By Samuel Getachew
Dionne Coley is an impressive young Ontarian. At only 29 years old, she has achieved more than many would in a lifetime. She holds a BA from the University of Windsor, LLB from Thomas M Cooley Law School and she is a candidate for an MA in Divinity from a bible college. In law school, she finished on the Dean’s List.
She is a mentor for both the old and new, especially in the pursuit of a career that is as exclusive as law. In many ways, Coley is a dream candidate for any elected office in Canada. In the last year alone, she was a candidate for office twice – one for school board trustee and one for an MPP (Member of Provincial Parliament).
Yet, at both attempts for an elected office, she failed and was soundly defeated. Her experience is not just a personal loss, but society loses when good, qualified people are not given opportunities to contribute to the political fabric of our city, province and country. A recent study seems to underline the facts with practical ideas as to how to improve the electoral successes according to society’s make up and composition.
DiversityCity – The Greater Toronto Leadership project – a partnership of Maytree Foundation and the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance looked at the experience of Coley and the attempts of all the Toronto and surrounding regions visible minority candidates and found troubling results. According to the lead author of the study, Professor Myer Siemiatycki of Ryerson University, “the research found that visible minorities continue to be underrepresented as political candidates and elected officials at all three levels of government relative to their share of the population.”
It is estimated that 40% of Torontonians are visible minorities and only 26 % of MPP’s are visible minorities, while 17 % for MP’s and a mere 7% for city council members. The study notes a significant movement with South Asians and Chinese, but reflects a worrisome result when it comes to blacks along with Arabs, Filipinos, non-white South Americans and Southeast Asians.
For example, in Ontario, a province where blacks make up 3.94% of the population, only two black members of provincial parliament were elected. These are Margarett Best, a Jamaican Canadian from Scarborough and Michael Coteau, who is, part black, from Don Valley East. In Toronto, it’s even worse, where Michael Thompson is the lone black out of 44 city councillors. There are two NDP black MP’s from Quebec in Ottawa.
The report was released at the Gardiner Museum in the company of Canada’s imminent political players such as Robin Sears and John Matheson, who discussed its finding with host – CBC’s Steven D’Souza.
According to the author of the report, radical change should happen to get an answer that is reflective of society. These include, “election reform such as addressing the under-representation of the GTA in federal parliament; increased institutional commitment by government and other formal institutions and interventions by political parties such as targets for nomination and mentoring visible minority aspiring politicians and increased community commitment to the importance of this issue”.
For more information on the study – please visit www.diversecitytoronto.ca
Maytree Foundation – www.maytree.com
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