Fighting to diversify ‘mostly white and male’ House
HALIFAX — Angela Simmonds admits it can be an isolating experience as one of a handful of African Nova Scotian MLAs in the legislature.
“I definitely feel that I am given a voice, whether or not it’s heard and really understood, “the representative for Preston said in an interview Tuesday.
“It’s one of the things, to be quite honest, I see as a barrier because there’s a lot of times we can say things and speak truth to, and when it’s not acknowledged, it becomes patronizing that we keep having that conversation,” referring to the push for more diversity in the legislature.
Last week, Simmonds tabled an amendment to the House of Assembly Act to create a fund to reimburse MLAs for childcare expenses and another to practise nation-to-nation relationship building to fulfil a longtime commitment toward a Mi’kmaw representative in the legislature.
Both amendments were shot down by the Progressive Conservative majority. Government MLAs criticized the childcare fund as an attempt to pad bank accounts and rejected the nation-to-nation amendment as an unnecessary intervention given the government’s support of Aboriginal communities.
The PCs pointed to projects such as Friday’s announcement of the construction of a resilience centre in Millbrook First Nation, the first in Canada. The facility will be run by the Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association and will be dedicated to healing and resilience for Indigenous women, girls, 2SLGBTQIA people and their families.
The province will put $1.6 million toward the centre and the federal government $6.5 million.
DIVERSITY TOOLS
Simmonds said the government’s response was disappointing, particularly since the amendments were based on recommendations by an independent review panel of academics and lawyers. That 300-page report included a recommendation for a 12.6 per cent raise for MLAs, which all parties in the legislature rejected as not appropriate at this time of inflationary pressures.
Nevertheless, the PC government recalled MLAs for an emergency debate on the raise recommendation.
“I think the salary increase discussion really moved away from the recommendations that really (gave us) an opportunity to make some changes,” Simmonds said. “This (panel) only happens once every 10 years ... This (childcare) fund is just there in hopes it can be utilized. Both of these recommendations are coming at a time when it’s so important that we are talking about diversity and representation.”
During last week’s debate on the childcare fund, NDP Leader Claudia Chender looked across the aisle toward the “mostly white and male” PC caucus. Across the 55-seat legislature, there are 20 women and four African Nova Scotian representatives.
“The question that we are discussing right now is about representation,” she said. “We represent doctors and nurses and shift workers and all of the different people in our constituencies who come to us. But this chamber doesn’t look like our constituencies. This chamber is not a reflection of the people we serve and that is because there are barriers (such as childcare costs).”
OTHERS WORK ‘LONG HOURS’
Chender was responding to Lunenburg West PC MLA Becky Druhan, who is education and early childhood development minister, who while acknowledging there are affordability and equity challenges in the legislature, said MLAs should not get a special deal for childcare while other Nova Scotians have to pay themselves.
“Is it difficult to arrange for childcare in our unpredictable hours, long hours, absolutely,” Druhan said. “Does it break our hearts when we’re not home for our child’s birthday? It does. And I speak very personally about that. But you know what? Nurses are in that position, doctors are in that position, other health-care workers are in that position too. They work long, long hours.”
‘NARRATIVES HAVE SHIFTED’
But Simmonds said the childcare fund would not have been free money for all MLAs but rather a potential tool to support MLAs from all cultural and economic backgrounds.
The walls of the legislature are filled with the portraits of white people who have dominated its history, a daily reminder to Simmonds when she walks into the House that African Nova Scotians have been largely left out of the political conversation in Nova Scotia.
“We have over 400 years that we’ve contributed to this province and the narratives have shifted and our people are experts in policy, in law and justice and education. There’s just so much opportunity for people that I think if we don’t make these walls in the legislature more welcoming, then we aren’t going to have more (representation).”