‘If I can do it, they will be able to do the same thing’
B.C. legislature names its first Speaker of South Asian background
VANCOUVER— In 1973 when Raj Chouhan arrived in Canada it wasn’t uncommon for homes of minorities to have their windows smashed, or be defaced with racist graffiti.
Racism “wasn’t subtle,” he said.
The attacks prompted Chouhan to become a founding member of the B.C. Organization to Fight Racism. It was one of his early forays into activism and it set him on the path to the legislature where he was first elected as a New Democrat MLA in 2005.
“That’s what got me into it,” he said. “That was something that needed to be addressed.”
On Monday, 47 years after coming to Canada, Chouhan was acclaimed Speaker of the British Columbia legislature.
He is the first Indo-Canadian to hold the role in Canada, and the first Punjabi-speaking Sikh to hold such a role outside of the Indian sub-continent, he said.
The news sparked a flood of congratulations with many of the messages coming from the Indo-Canadian community.
“That’s really very heartening,” Chouhan said, who was sworn in Monday. “I’m sure they feel encouraged that if I can do it, they will be able to do the same thing.”
Calling Chouhan’s election to the role historic, B.C. Premier John Horgan congratulated the new Speaker in the legislature.
The province has had Indo
Canadians in high-ranking positions in the past, most notably Premier Ujjal Dosanjh. But the dignity of the Speaker is sure to be held in high regard by South Asian communities, said Rattan Mall, editor of the weekly newspaper the Indo-Canadia n Voice.
Chouhan has garnered great respect as an activist against racism, his 18 years with the Hospital Employees Union and as founding president of the Canadian Farmworker s’ Union.