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Every eighth candidate in British Columbia Assembly elections is of Indian descent
Most of the diaspora candidates are second-generation Canadians who are well-qualified professionals, including lawyers, teachers, nurses, engineers and social activists with degrees from top universities in Canada.
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Deepak Suri, Sarah Kooner, Dharam Kajal / Official Photo
Indo-Canadian politicians have taken the politics of the country of their adoption by storm. Almost every eighth candidate for the ensuing British Columbia Provincial Parliament elections to be held on Oct. 19, belongs to the Indian diaspora. Of 323 candidates in the fray for the 93-member BC Assembly, 45 have Indian roots.
Interestingly, they are in the run to represent the BC Assembly from only 26 ridings.
Ten members of the diaspora, who sat in the outgoing 42nd Parliament, are Harry Bains (Minister of Labour), Jagrup Brar (Minister of State for Trade), Raj Chauhan (Speaker), Olympian Ravi Kahlon (Minister of Housing), Nikki Sharma (Attorney General), Rachna Singh (Education and Child Care Minister), Ravi Parmar, Harwinder Sandhu, Jinny Sims, and Aman Singh.
Candidates for the 43rd British Columbia Assembly represent all major parties, including the ruling NDP, Liberals, Conservatives, Freedom Party, Greens, Independents and unaffiliated.
Five-time member Harry Bains, who held the portfolio of Labour in the outgoing government, has decided not to seek re-election from Surrey-Newton. Instead, the NDP has put up Jessie Sunner from there.
Going by history, Indo-Canadian politicians, after establishing their credibility at the community level and with their track record of achievements, are emerging as strong political entities with their growing presence on the provincial and federal stages. When British Columbia went to the polls last time, migrants from India became major playmakers as they held their record since their entry into provincial politics in 1986. Since then, it has been a success story that every immigrant community across the globe should emulate.
After making a dent in the political scenario of the province of British Columbia in Canada in the early 80s when they sent Moe Sihota to the state legislature as an elected MLA on the New Democratic Party ticket, politicians of Indian descent have come a long way. They have not only scripted a success story but are a vibrant and rapidly growing political presence that has successfully spread their wings as both federal and provincial lawmakers.
Born in Duncan, Moe - Munmohan Singh - Sihota has been the second generation politician of Indian origin who served on the BC Cabinet in different capacities before heading the BC NDP.
“Immigrants from South Asia take more interest in politics back home than flex their political sinews in the new countries of their domicile. They, somehow, do not get assimilated in their new political environments.” This observation, made by one of the scholars-cum-writers on the Indian diaspora about 30 years ago, must now be revised.
The Indo-Canadian politicians are now more into Canadian politics at all levels – from municipal to federal – than remaining involved in politics back home. Their diminishing interest in politics back home was evident from their token presence in the last Punjab Vidhan Sabha elections in which Aam Aadmi Party, a new entrant to the political arena of the State, recorded a landslide win capturing 92 of 117 seats.
What started as a single seat in the British Columbia Provincial Parliament in October 1986 has now spread to five Provincial Parliaments that have several politicians of Indian descent as members. The latest on the list is Saskatchewan which had in 2020 elected its first Indo-Canadian, Gary Grewal, from Regina. Incidentally, the election to the Saskatchewan Assembly was also announced today. Besides sitting MPP (MLA) Gary Grewal, several other candidates of Indian descent are expected to be in the fray.
The candidates are Sarah Kooner, Amandeep Singh (Abbotsford South), Dharam Kajal (Burnaby Centre), Reah Arora and Tara Shushtarian (Burnaby East), Raj Chauhan and Deepak Suri (Burnaby New Westminster), Ravi Kahlon, M. Khan and Raj Verauli (Delta North), Kamal Grewal (Kamloops Centre), Harpreet Badohal (Kelowna-Mission), Sam Atwal (Katenay Rockies), Ravi Parmar (Langford-Highlands), Harman Bhangu (Langley-Abbotsford), Jody Toor (Langley-Willowbrook), Sam Chandola and Subhadarshi Tripathi (North Vancouver), Aman Singh (Richmond-Queensborough), Amna Shah, Zeeshan Wahla (Surrey City Centre), Mandeep Dhaliwal, Kiran Hundal, Hobby Nijjar, Sim Sandhu and Rachna Singh (Surrey North), Jagroop Brar and Avtar Gill (Surrey-Fleetwood), Kabir Qurban, HS Randhawa and Manjeet Singh Sahota (Surrey-Guildford), Tegjot Bal, Amrit Birring, Jagreet Lehal, Joginder Singh Randhawa and Jessie Sunner (Surrey-Newton), Paramjit Rai and Jinny Sims (Surrey-Panorama), Baltej Dhillon (Surrey-Serpentine River), Jag S Sanghera (Vancouver-Fraserview), Nikki Sharma (Vancouver Hastings), Sunita Dhir (Vancouver-Langara), Daryani Singh (Vancouver-Point Grey), Harwinder Sandhu (Vernon-Lumby) and Nina Krieger(Victoria-Swan Lake).
Of them, Ravi Kahlon represented Canada in the Olympic Games hockey competition twice while Jagroop Brar was a national-level basketball player in India before he migrated to Canada.
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