Canada is renowned for its diversity, pluralism, and successful integration of new citizens and cultures, yet the national parties have only been led by white men or women. The political system is relatively open, but there remain shortcomings in the representation that results.
Since 1873, a bearded man hasn't led his party to victory in a federal election. Thus history would be made if Jagmeet Singh leads the NDP to form the government following the 2019 election.
If Singh is elected NDP leader this fall, he will have already broken through a much bigger barrier by becoming the first non-white leader of a major federal party in the history of this country.
One may see Singh's campaign as a test of both his own preparation and Canadians' readiness to support a leader who looks like him.
Pardeep Singh Nagra
“In Canada, Sikhs have more than a century of history”, says Sikh activist Pardeep Singh Nagra. He asks, "If we're not ready now, how could we ever be ready?”In the 1990s, Nagra fought for inclusion as an amateur boxer and in his words, the prospect of a non-white leader was long overdue.
Canadian politics: Rising diversity
In recent years, the faces of federal politics have become more diverse. In November 2015, the Liberals appointed four Sikhs to the cabinet. According to Erin Tolley, a professor at the University of Toronto, 14 percent of the MPs elected in 2015 were visible minorities, making it the most diverse Parliament in Canadian history. Based on a survey conducted by Tolley and Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant, who does research in political sciences at Queens University, not a single candidate from one of the three major parties represented a visible minority in 54% of the ridings.
They wrote in 2015, "The strategic placement of visible minority candidates in the most diverse ridings lulls us into believing our politics is inclusive.”
Race and religion: The Canadian view
The study suggests that race can influence voters, but it is not necessarily decisive: party preference tends to be more important.
Singh may face unique challenges, according to other polls. According to a 2004 poll, 30% of respondents were less likely to vote for a party led by a Muslim, and 8% were less likely to support a black party leader. When Angus Reid questioned poll participants earlier this year about their opinions of various religions, only 38% stated they had a favorable opinion of Sikhism. This is even though attitudes toward religious communities can differ from feelings toward specific members. Compared to when the question was posed in 2013, it was an improvement, but it was still far below the percentages for Christianity at 68% and Judaism at 53%.
When asked if they supported the wearing of a turban in public, 77% answered they did, a much lower percentage than for a crucifix or Star of David. And only 33% of respondents supported wearing a kirpan, the tiny knife worn by devout Sikhs.
Singh's turban and kirpan are believed to be especially problematic in Quebec, where religion, secularism, and state are deeply rooted and such overt signs of faith are frowned upon. A "charter of values" proposed by the former Parti Québécois government prohibited wearing turbans at workplaces. The federal NDP's opposition to the former Conservative government's attempt to ban the veil during the swearing of the citizenship oath has been blamed for the party's losses in Quebec in 2015.
16 of the NDP's 44 MPs are currently based in Quebec
In a recent analysis, Karl Belanger, a consultant to Jack Layton and Tom Mulcair, questioned if Singh and his staff were prepared to handle the agonizingly anticipated questions about his Sikh faith and its influence on his policies or a possible NDP government.
A broader perspective and the need for education
Shachi Kurl of Angus Reid says that the key to overcoming some of this is education and familiarity and that Singh has to ensure that his narrative goes beyond religion. "By education, he will need to tell and tell and tell again why he chooses to wear the kirpan and why it's important to him. Familiarity is just that, getting voters used to him, in the way he did with his appearance on the Rick Mercer Report some months ago, where the segment addressed religious issues, his politics, his reputation as a fashionista, etc."
Launching his campaign on Monday, Singh shared an anecdote from his childhood to illustrate his distinguishing characteristics. "Like many others who stand out, I was picked on," he said. "I had a funny-sounding name, brown skin, and long hair. I faced a lot of bullying at school and often felt like I didn't belong. I had to learn to stand up for myself."
He also explained how he realized that kids from poor homes were also excluded. Throughout his remarks, he made references to fighting discrimination and division.
Singh's candidacy will probably encourage racist opinions to surface and be expressed on social media and in the comments sections of news articles about him. During an interview with GQ, Singh said he had been targeted by anti-Muslim sentiment because many people do not understand the difference between Muslims and Sikhs. Three years ago, Tim Uppal, Multiculturalism Minister in Stephen Harper's cabinet, was the recipient of an ugly comment at a tennis club in riding.
Those views could be in a tiny minority. Singh might not experience much discomfort in a nation where 19.0% of people are members of visible minorities. However, it is difficult to be certain in the absence of precedents.
Elections are not perfect tests
However, leadership contexts and federal elections are not perfect tests of acceptance. The reasons Singh could fail as a leadership candidate are entirely unrelated. In the event that Singh becomes the leader of the NDP, but the party fails to make gains in 2019, there could be several reasons.
Apart from questions of race and religion, Canadians have never had an NDP prime minister. Maybe Canadians don't trust people with beards.
If Singh is followed by others like him, not just Sikhs, but Chinese, black, and Muslim leaders as well, then Canada might be ready for a non-white leader.
Canadians come from a vast range of nations, races, religions, and heritage. As a result, a diverse population is now one of the distinctive features of Canadian society. Eventually, there would be a diversity of democratic leadership in a country with such a great deal of diversity.
*Based on an article by Aaron Wherry in CBC News ,Posted: May 21, 2017