Proposed change to Vancouver riding boundaries would split South Asian vote, community leaders fear

Community leaders in South Vancouver's Punjabi Market district are criticizing a proposal that would change some federal electoral boundaries and split two pillars of the South Asian community into different ridings.

New boundaries proposed by the federal electoral boundaries commission of B.C. would move the Punjabi Market to the Vancouver Arbutus riding, while the Khalsa Diwan Society Gurdwara, a Sikh temple, would remain in Vancouver South. 

Opponents say the proposed changes ignore decades of history and would weaken the South Asian community's political representation.

Gulzar Nanda, chair of the Punjabi Market Collective, which works to revitalize the historic district, worries the new boundaries will divide the South Asian community's voting power.

"Splitting up our community is just going to lead to a situation where our capacities diminish," he said.

The Punjabi Market, a three-block commercial district located on Main Street between 48th Avenue East and 51st Avenue East, opened in 1970. It's considered to be North America's oldest little India — being the first place in the world outside of South Asia to have Punjabi on street signs — and has served as a central hub for South Asian immigrants.

While the market went into decline in the early 2000s, decades earlier the strip was flooded with the aroma of sandalwood, bright colours of Punjabi suits hanging from storefronts and the sounds of Indian and Pakistani music. 

The Gurdwara, a Sikh organization, was also established in 1970 and has been an important space for the community ever since. 

"That type of visibility is important to South Asians; it's the reason they settled here," Nanda said.

Needs of residents could be overlooked

Nanda worries the needs of residents in the Punjabi Market neighbourhood would be overlooked in the new riding, which would include the affluent neighbourhoods of South Granville and Shaughnessy.

"The demographics speak for themselves. There's a disparity in income levels, ethnicity," he said.

"We want to be strong in terms of our political agency."

Herb Dhaliwal, the first South Asian member of cabinet who represented the federal riding of Vancouver South in the late 1990s, is also disappointed by the proposal.

"Punjabi Market is the heart of the riding," he said "If it's not part of this riding, it would take away from an area that was integral to Vancouver South."

Nanda says the Punjabi Market Collective is lobbying Ottawa to keep the ridings as they are.

The report proposing federal electoral boundary changes is currently under review in Parliament.