Ethnic, visible minorities want Montreal mayoral candidates to address diversity

As part of CBC Montreal Daybreak's coverage of Quebec's municipal elections, Shari Okeke met people concerned about the under-representation of visible minorities and immigrants in Montreal's public service.

They say it's an issue they're not hearing candidates address.

More than 30 percent of Montrealers are visible minorities.

Yet visible minorities make up only about 14 per cent of candidates for municipal office in this election, 11 per cent of municipal civil servants, sevenpercent of thepolice serviceand lessthan 2 per cent ofthe fire department.

Dania Suleman, lawyer

Montreal lawyer Dania Suleman says she's heard so little about diversity during the Montreal municipal election campaign that she feels skeptical when she spots visible minorities on campaign posters.

"It kind of looks like tokenism rather than anything else," she said.

Suleman says it's different in the case of Cathy Wong, a high-profile candidate running for quipe Denis Coderre, who Suleman knows and describes as "brilliant."

Wong wasthe youngest president ever onthe Conseil des Montralaises; she's worked as a development officer for the YMCAs of Quebec andas a columnist for Le Devoir and Radio-Canada.

'Needs to be way stronger'

But Suleman's respect for Wong doesn't mean she'll be votingfor Coderre.

"I still think she's done some very amazing things, but for me, it's not enough that they just decided to have Cathy Wong on their team," Suleman said.

"It needs to be way stronger than that," she said.

When it comes to the issue of better representation, Suleman is not impressed by Projet Montral either.

"Both teams, I feel, theway they approach cultural, religiousor ethnic minorities, it sometimes feels phoney," she said.

As a lawyer specializing in labour law and as a Muslim Montrealer of mixed-race and Eritrean descent, Suleman is particularly concerned about employment equity and the fact that the provincial commission on systemic racism is no longer proceedingwith the mandate it was given at the outset.

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Both Coderre and Plante say they want to tackle employment issues, but you cannot do that without looking at racial discrimination, Suleman said.

"I didn't see any suggestions or political vision on that level," she said.

Gregory Excellent, business owner & community radio host

Gregory Excellent owns Capital Plus, a peer-to-peer lending firm in Saint-Michel, and he considers himself a social activist.

Excellent was raised in Montreal North and wants to see elected officials who look more like the people who live in the community, sohe's supporting Haitian candidates running for Projet Montral in Montreal North.

Excellent had been a solid Coderre supporter until last year.

WhenMontreal North's former borough mayor stepped down,Excellent teamed up with other citizens to suggest a Haitian candidate to run for borough mayor with quipeDenisCoderre.

However, he says, Coderre didn't meetthem to discuss their proposal,and that was a major disappointment.

"The fact he didn't choose a Haitian candidate,it sent us a major signal that he takes the Haitian community for granted," Excellentsaid.

That candidate, Kerlande Mibel, wound up running for Projet Montral, but it was Coderre's candidate, Christine Black, who was elected.

Accountability for targets

Excellent blames the low voter turnout about 20 per cent for Mibel'sloss. Still, the experience encouraged himto keep supporting Haitian candidates and keep pushing for change.

He wants to see clear diversity targets for municipal employees and accountability for those targets.

"In the private sector, if you have a target and you don't meet it, you could lose your job. That's not the case at municipal level, and I think that should change," he said.

"If we're serious about it, well, heads need to roll if we don't meet objectives or expectations."

He's also urging voters to hold candidates accountable, askquestions, and get to the polls on Nov.5.

"Ask them what they're going to change in your life, in your community. Then make a choice."

Jerome Di Giovanni, executive director of ACCSSS

Jerome Di Giovanni describes himself as one of the last "Pier 21 kids."

He waspart of the mass immigrationof Italians to Canada who first arrived at Pier 21 in Halifax before moving to Montreal.

Now he's executive director of ACCSSS, a federation of 122 organizations from variousethnocultural communities that share aninterest in health care and social services for immigrants.

Di Giovanni says he wants to hear Montreal mayoral candidatesDenis Coderre and Valrie Plante describe concrete actions their parties would take regarding Bill 62, the province's controversial law that bans face-coverings.

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"Bill 62 should be challenged in court. We should scrap it because it really has nothing to do with religious neutrality," he said, calling it "systemic discrimination" that targets Muslim women.

"We've heard nothing like that in terms of the twocandidates,"said Di Giovanni.

'Not talking about it'

"The City of Montreal is supposed to have an employment equity program, so where is the employment equity program? How come the two candidates don't talk about the employment equity program?" he asked.

He also wants to hear Montreal's mayoral candidates address relations between police and various communities,beyond suggesting training courses and setting up morecommittees.

"In terms of actual change, changing culture of the police, changing the way the police works in relation to racial minorities,ethnocultural communities ... They're not talking about it."

More on CBCMontreal'sDaybreak:

Tiffany Callender, who is running for city councillorinCte-des-Neiges with quipe Denis Coderre and Balarama Holness, who is running for borough mayor in Montreal North with Projet Montral, were on CBC Montreal'sDaybreak Tuesday discussing how to tackle under-representation of visible minorities and immigrants in Montreal's public service.