Waterloo region group aims to increase representation of visible minorities in political office

A Waterloo region-based organization is on a drive to increase representation of visible minorities in political office at the local, provincial and federal levels.

Run4Office Waterloo Region was formed last year in the wake of the issues around anti-Black racism and lack of representation of visible minorities in politics.

Group member Marcia Smellie said people should not wait until a month or two before an election if they're interested in politics.

"If you're going to get involved in party politics, you need to be involved with the party of interest from now or maybe from before," Smellie told CBC K-W's The Morning Edition.

Smellie said people can get involved by "volunteering," adding that they need to understand how party politics works, and "recognizing that campaigns are not easy, they're lengthy, you need a team, you need money, all of those kinds of things.".

It's one thing to get nominated and just being left on your own to campaign and to deliver the message, but it's another thing when you have other candidates, established candidates, incumbents or even the leader coming out to support you so people understand that you are supported by the party.- Velma Morgan, chair Operation Black Vote Canada

Velma Morgan, chair of Operation Black Vote Canada, said there are several barriers to minorities running for political office in Canada.

"There is fundraising, you might not have the networks to fund raise," Morgan told CBC K-W. 

"There's also having the list or background information or data on a particular riding available. A lot of times things are not really available."

Having the full support of the political party is another issue, Morgan said. 

"It's one thing to get nominated and just being left on your own to campaign and to deliver the message, but it's another thing when you have other candidates, established candidates, incumbents or even the leader coming out to support you so people understand that you are supported by the party," Morgan said.

Meanwhile, Morgan said there is also the issue of access to information on how to be political and how to engage with a political party. 

"A lot of times people don't know what the entry point is and if you didn't grow up involved in politics you wouldn't know how to get involved," she said.

"A lot of parties don't have the 'how to' on their website, so you still have to know somebody in order to do that."

Help for minorities entering politics

Morgan said there is help available, from organizations such as Operation Black Vote Canada, for minorities who want to get into politics. 

"We do workshops throughout the year, we also do training and we provide a network of people and some of those people in the network are actually Black political officials," Morgan said.

For people who want to run in the provincial or municipal elections next year, both Morgan and Smellie said now is a good time to understand how the systems work. 

Smellie said her organization has been "running monthly Zoom meetings with people who had been involved or are still involved in politics at the provincial level and municipal level, and having them come and share their experiences, both positive experiences and negative experiences." 

The Green Party of Canada is being led by Annamie Paul — the first Black Canadian to ever lead a major political party.

Operation Black Vote Canada said the election of  Paul represented "a step forward in the mission to diversify our politics, and have more Canadians represented in the institutions that represent them."

Listen to the full interview with Marcia Smellie of Run4Office Waterloo Region:

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.