BIPOC leaders are prying open federal politics

When Jagmeet Singh won his victory as leader of the federal NDP exactly three years ago, I wrote an article saying that he did not represent just the Sikh community in Canada, but, by default, the entirety of the country's immigrant population.

Now, Annamie Paul's win as the first Black leader of a federal party is a win for racial minorities in Canada by more than just one measure. For the first time in Canada's history, leaders of two of the country's five main political parties are — People of Colour.

The timing of this win could not be more significant for those of us who are not part of the white majority in the Western World. The resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States. The disproportionate number of racial minorities being affected by COVID-19 in western countries. The reckoning with the slave trade in the United Kingdom. Europe's aggressive pushback against desperate asylum seekers.

All these events have culminated in a collective realization — painful and searing for the non-white minority and “uncomfortable” for the white majority — that the world isn't just a vacuum of white. It's much more than that. And that it takes a multitude of colours to make a whole.

Paul's victory as Green Party leader is the antithesis of Canada's ode to multiculturalism — an ode that clearly allowed those of many cultures to coexist together, but not to govern together. That was very much to remain the realm of the white majority. And it has taken more than 150 years for Canada to begin to move beyond that. The move has been propelled more by the struggles and obstacles faced by non-whites than by any support from

Annamie Paul's win as the first Black leader of a federal party is a win for racial minorities in Canada

the system itself. Paul's own trajectory to success is clearly indicative of this. Just as it is also indicative of the lives of 22 per cent of Canada's population.

That this is still something that makes a large part of Canada uncomfortable is only the beginning of the challenges Paul will face as a federal leader. Just as Singh has had to contend with being the target of racial abuse and harassment, both in the House of Commons and outside it.

And for those who still deny that Canada harbours racist tendencies, just a glance at the online comments that sometimes appear at the end of my articles should be enough to convince even the hardened. As a brown woman from a brown country who defends race and immigrant identity in Canada, I am still not Canadian enough for the white majority.

While at least the face of Canada's politics is beginning to look more like its demographics, the politics itself still has a long way to go. The negative effects of colonialism, racism and implementation (or lack of ) of multiculturalism policies, will continue to remain a crucial part of political decision-making. Even in a comparatively welcoming country like Canada.

Likewise, Indigenous leadership has yet to be given any space in mainstream Canadian politics, an even bigger chasm than the representation of visible minorities. Increasing immigration levels may open the doors to greater mixing of cultures but until the system fully allows integration at the political level, immigration will continue to be a numbers game: immigrants being an “economic resource” rather than humans with vision, capabilities and, yes, aspirations to lead.

I can only hope Paul's victory will lead to a melding of thought between the NDP and the Green Party on what it means to be a leader of colour in such a divisive but decisive time in western politics. And before the hate speech commences, this does not mean that their focus should only be on race just because of their race. It means that their experiences as children of immigrants can only add to how they view a more inclusive Canada at the highest level of political authority.

It can and should only get better after this.