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Muslims and municipal elections
11-19-2014
Our editorial is dedicated to the brave hearts of the Local Muslim Community Members who took the leap of faith, and decided to become the pall bearers for the Muslim Community by participating in the Municipal Elections, just past week. They are Mr. Adil Awan, for Richmond City Council's position, Mohamud Ali Farah, Richmond District School Board, Sikander Hayat, Surrey District School Board, and Imtiaz Popat, Vancouver Parks Board
Undoubtedly, it takes a certain kind of courage to be able to put yourself out in the open to the public, susceptible to abuse and ridicule by your opponents whose aim is to try to undermine your bid, where every aspect of your personal life is placed before the public for examination, from Facebook, Twitter accounts to all social mediums. Our hats off to them, despite the negative downside, and affects on family life, these individuals tried their very best to become the spokesperson for the Muslim Community at a grandeur societal level in Canada, and we thank all of them for that.
All four candidates performed well above their expectations, providing Municipal voter in their respective municipalities a choice, other than the traditional candidates. Each candidates also demonstrated and established strengths within the Muslim community, both at the polls, that in itself is a victory for the Muslim community. Each candidate were qualified from a commercial pilot with FedEx, educators, to radio show host, with a solid grasp on English language
The goal for the Muslim community should be to have people from the community at all levels of governments, not just municipal. This is the area where we are certainly lagging behind over other ethnic communities, despite the fact that Muslims are the second largest faith group in Canada, after Christianity. The aim of the community leaders at large, along with the Muslim community is to find ways to overcome these obstacles, which is imperative for our long-term survival in Canada as a community. Unless we get our voices in halls where major decisions are being made, our community will be continued to be marginalized and left behind of others.
Its time to go back and examine the different campaigns by fellow Muslims and discover where we failed, and where we could have done better, and how we can galvanized Muslim voters to participate in future elections.
Incidentally, contrary to our local Muslim candidates, there was a news report published in Pakistan's largest English newspaper Dawn, headlined, "How Pakistani Candidates Embarrass us in Canadian Polls." This article was written in reference to the Ontario Municipal Elections where number of Pakistani candidates ran for the various positions from Mississauga Mayor, to city councilors and school board trustees. Remarkably, this was not the first time some of these candidates had managed to embarrass the community. The article highlighted that one individual ran because he is unemployed and that the elected city hall position pays well remuneration.
Some of the candidates in Toronto ran in elections, just to have his pictures taken next to well known and influential Pakistani and Canadian politicians. One supposedly business tycoon from Sialkot, Pakistan, with no business experience, running for a mayor's office in Mississauga, had his pamphlets printed in Pakistan and his qualifications included part of the a member of Chamber of commerce in just about every continent on the planet, resulting in securing little less than one percent of the total votes casted. This despite the fact that Mississauga has the largest Pakistani population in Canada.
In municipality of Thorncliffe, which has the second largest Muslim populated city in Canada, dubbed as Islamic republic of Thorncliffe, with thirty thousands Muslim voters, had several Muslim candidates running. However, not a single Muslim candidate made it near winning, simply due to infighting. The single most defeating aspect of these individuals were their lack of knowledge and fluency in English
Despite these obstacles, Canadian Voters are well versed with the candidates and do exercise the power of their votes by electing candidates for the position they deserve, regardless of their background, faith, or ethnicity.
Throughout the province of Ontario, two Pakistanis did win, Mr. Max Khan, reelected, from Oakville, and Mr. Zeeshan Hamid, from Milton with the absolute support of Pakistanis and non-Pakistanis. This despite the fact that both victorious candidates had a proven track record of community services, spoke fluent English. Mr. Hamid's banners and posters were removed and vandalized by his opponents, something he said what he thought was limited to Pakistan.
What our own experience here in BC and in light of what has occurred in Ontario teaches us to be prepared and groom future political candidates so we do not end up in same kind of mess what Ontario Muslim Communities have ended up with. Our local community here is still going through growing phase. This would be an excellent opportunity for leaders among Muslim community to devise a plan, which would lead us to having positive results, such as Mr. Khan and Mr. Hamid in Ontario. The goal must be to have an elected members from the local community at all political levels.
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