Activist says parties need Black MPs

OTTAWA— A Toronto-based activist is calling on Canada’s political parties to nominate more Black candidates in winnable ridings in this fall’s federal election in order to enhance the chances the community is better represented in Parliament.

Fewer than 20 Black Canadians have been nominated so far, including a handful of Liberal MPs who are seeking re-election, said Velma Morgan, the chair of Operation Black Vote Canada, a not-for-profit, multipartisan organization that aims to get more Black people elected at all levels of government.

There are currently seven Black MPs in the House of Commons — three each in Quebec and Ontario, and one in British Columbia.

“Six MPs belonging to one political party and one Independent is clearly not enough to represent our voice adequately,” Morgan said. “We do need to be able to elect more Black Canadians, (that’s why) we need more Black Canadians nominated.”

The number of Black people in Canada doubled between 1996 and 2016, with 1.2 million, or 3.5 per cent, identifying as Black in the 2016 census, Statistics Canada says.

When it comes to increasing the number of Black and other minority Canadians on Parliament Hill, the main challenge is getting them to run in the first place, said Greg Fergus, a Liberal MP and head of Parliament’s cross-partisan Black caucus.

The colour or gender of the candidates don’t play into their chances of success — “the real issue is getting through the nomination process,” he said.