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Are African Canadians An Endangered Species For Senate And Other Government Appointments?

The Senate, the Upper House of Canada's Parliament. Its purpose is to consider and revise legislation, investigate national issues, and most crucially, according to the Constitution — give the regions of Canada an equal voice in Parliament.

Are African Canadians An Endangered Species For Senate And Other Government Appointments?

By Mark Brown
PRIDE Columnist

Mark Brown 99“My nails are so white they should be part of the Senate”.

What did they just say? That was my response when I first over heard this statement being made recently by some millennials.

They were discussing their newly manicured finger nails which were painted white. It appeared that this is a common statement among today’s younger generation.

I was shocked when I heard this statement for the first time. My shock was not that they were getting manicures or pedicures, but rather that one of the highest government appointments, such as Canadian Senators, being appointed primarily to Canadians of European descent, have somehow become a house hold name.

Is this possible? Could there be some truth to the statement, “My nails are so white they should be part of the Senate”?

If there is some truth, when did it become acceptable? The answer to these questions, as I see it, must first begin with research.

According to the Parliament of Canada’s website there are 105 Senate positions in the Canadian Parliament — of 87 are currently occupied and 18 are vacant.

A review of the Senator’s biographies reveals that a minute amount appear to be persons of colour and two that appear to be of African descent.

It has been reported that African Canadians account for between 2.5 and 2.9% of Canada’s overall population.

At first glance it would appear that with 2 of the 105 Senators appearing to be of African descent, and African Canadians accounting for between 2.5 and 2.9% of Canada’s overall population, that the number of African Canadians represented in the Senate is close to proportional.

However when you factor in where the bulk of the African Canadians reside in Canada a somewhat different reality reveals itself.

The City of Toronto’s website reports that African Canadians account for 208,555 or 8.4 per cent of the overall population of Toronto, which is Canada’s largest city.

With only 2 of the 105 Senators appearing to be of African descent some would question if 2 is sufficient to effectively represent the 208,555 African Canadians or 8.4 per cent of Canada’s largest city.

Recently, the Office of the Correctional Investigator unveiled in Parliament, its Annual Report for the 2014-2015 fiscal year.

The report reveals that, overall, African Canadians are the fastest growing inmate population within Canada’s federal prisons.

The report goes on to state that from 2005-2015, the African Canadian inmate population grew by 69%, while the inmate populations of Indigenous people and Women has grown by more than 50%.

The report further speaks to the federal incarceration rate for African Canadians being three times their representation rate in general society.

One must then ask the question, “how many of the women, African Canadians, and Indigenous peoples mentioned in the report are incarcerated for the possession and or the sale of the same marijuana that the senate will be instrumental in legalizing in the near future”?

If the women, African Canadians and Indigenous peoples are not represented on the senate in sufficient numbers as to be effective, then who will bring the voices of those people to the tables, where those laws are being discussed?

Who will raise the issue of over-incarceration when laws are created that disproportionately and adversely affect specific segments of the population?

Many reading this article will recall that at the beginning of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s mandate, he put together his cabinet which included 50% women.

There were no African Canadians chosen to sit on his cabinet, despite there being multiple African Canadian elected MP’s to choose from.  (That may be the subject of a future article).

When the Prime Minister was questioned about why he appointed a record level of women to his cabinet his response was simple and precise. “Because it’s 2015”.

African Canadians have a history in Canada’s east coast and the prairies dating back to the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Is it not 2015 or in this case, 2016 for Canadians of African descent as well?

Should African Canadians not also have a leading role in creating the laws that govern the society that they were instrumental in building?

With the exception of Canada’s Indigenous peoples, Canada is a melting pot of immigrants and their descendants from all over the world. As such, as Canadians we can never accept that a continuous under representation of Canadians of African descent can become such a house hold name that it becomes the acceptable and right thing to do.

That is why, included in the list of questions that must be asked, as I see it, is “why are there no peoples of African descent appointed as the CEO of any of Canada’s Crown Corporations and when did that become okay”?

In Canada African Canadians are Police Chiefs, MP’S, MPP’s, Surgeons, Lawyers, Judges and more. Why then is that diversity not proportionally represented within Canada’s institutions and appointments?

Recently the Prime Minister created a new process to fill vacant senate seats. This involves the creation of a new advisory board that among other things, reviews the Senate applications and creates a short list for the Prime Minister to choose from.

The new process is designed to turn the Senate into a less partisan, more independent department that would take an independent and sober second look at new laws being created.

According to the advisory board’s report, almost 300 Canadians were nominated during the first phase of the process. The report went on to say that the nominations were from a wide section of the population representing Canada’s diversity.

It was further reported that the applications came from academic, labour, business organizations, groups representing women, indigenous peoples, linguistic, ethnic and others.

According to the report the nominees were 49 percent female, 51 percent male; 10 percent identified as indigenous, 16 percent as visible minorities and 4 percent identified as disabled.

Prime Minister Trudeau named seven new senators from a short list of 25 recommended by the newly created advisory board mentioned above. There were no new African Canadians named senators thus far.

As the process continues, the advisory board is expected to create a short list for the remaining 17 vacant senate positions and any others that become vacant. The details of how to apply can be found at www.appointments-nominations.gc.ca/prsnt.asp?page=senat&lang=eng

In my view it is imperative that diverse voices be at the table when new laws are being created that affect the lives of Canadians.

It is equally important, in my opinion, that those diverse voices include the voices of women, Indigenous peoples and Canada’s Black communities.

This is for two reasons.

The first reason is because I believe that along with other Canadian lives, ALL THE BLACK LIVES MATTER. The second reason is as simple and as precise as the Prime Minister’s reason for having a cabinet that is made up of 50% women — because it’s 2016.

Mark Brown is the Chair of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council’s Equity Committee, a member of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionist (CBTU) and a member of the Toronto Local of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. He can be reached at www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000658149978

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