Advocates celebrate increase in diverse representatives on Toronto city council
Posted October 27, 2022 6:32 pm.
Last Updated October 28, 2022 7:59 pm.
Monday’s election saw nine new people join Toronto city council and while the new additions were welcomed, what’s being celebrated by advocates is the increased diversity of the body itself – something they say is a step closer to reflecting the city’s population as a whole.
“It showed there was a real appetite for change,” Saman Tabasinejad, an organizing director with Progress Toronto, told CityNews in an interview while reflecting on the Toronto election results.
She said her organization works to help get social justice-oriented and politically progressive candidates get into office as well as raise awareness about incumbents who, they say, haven’t voted to support progressive issues.
Tabasinejad said five of the nine council candidates Progress Toronto endorsed were elected as councillors: Amber Morley, Alejandra Bravo, Ausma Malik, Chris Moise and Jamaal Myers. In all, there will be more women in this term of council (10 were elected) along with several new racialized individuals all across the city.
“We have a new, diverse council that’s one of the most diverse councils to date going into this new term and it will make a huge difference for constituents because I can guess that a lot of folks can listen to John Tory or other sitting city councillors and not necessarily see their experiences reflected,” she said.
“They’re bringing not only their voices, but the voices of their communities.
“It’s important to note that these candidates also have lived experiences not only as Black and racialized individuals, but also as renters, as transit riders and people who very much experienced precarity and the [difficulty] and the unaffordability in the city.”
When it comes to getting elected to city council, Tabasinejad and other advocates said it’s particularly hard because it’s difficult to differentiate between all the other candidates, the extraordinary need for name recognition and difficulties raising the tens of thousands of dollars needed.
“The systems are not necessarily built to support racialized candidates … especially candidates who do not have access to generational wealth, or are not property owners they’re renters, or they’re transit users,” she noted.
Advocates hailed the win of Councillor-elect Amber Morley in Ward 3 Etobicoke–Lakeshore. In 2018, Morley lost to Coun. Mark Grimes — first elected in 2003 — by 5,542 votes. However, Monday evening Morley beat Grimes by 2,013 votes.
“It changes the lived experiences that are represented around the table and I think it’s going to get us to better policy outcomes. That is the power of diversity if we let it do its work and I know all of us diverse candidates are ready to show up and do that,” Morley told CityNews on Tuesday.
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In addition to being endorsed by Progress Toronto, she participated in a support program offered by Operation Black Vote Canada (OBVC) — a non-profit, multi-organization that helps Black candidates get elected.
“For far too long, we’ve only had one person representing us in Toronto and the diversity of Toronto. Now we have four, including a Black woman that we haven’t had in such a long time,” Velma Morgan, the chair of OBVC, said.
“Hopefully those lived experiences will translate into better policies for everybody, better accessibility for everybody, and that’s exactly why we need diverse voices at all levels of government.”
Ward 13 Toronto Centre Councillor-elect Chris Moise, who is Black and a member of the city’s 2SLGBTQ+ community, said he expects council to work together regardless of backgrounds and partisan differences, united by a purpose to serve.
“I think we bring ourselves to it, authentic selves to it. I think the diversity in council now, I think with four new Black councillors and different stripes, I think that’s a positive, right, and I think they will bring that wealth with them and change will happen,” he said.
In Ward 10 Spadina–Fort York, Ausma Malik made history after being elected Toronto’s first female, Muslim councillor.
“I’m so proud of the choices that Torontonians have made to make sure we have more Black people, more racialized people, more women and more relatively young people with different experiences and backgrounds coming to bare and making that sure our representation is richer, more courageous and hopefully more effective,” she told CityNews.
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Fatema Abdalla, an advocacy officer with the National Council of Canadian Muslims, congratulated Malik on her win.
“I think it’s huge, especially for the local level. Municipal governments always tend to have more of a local outreach to their communities … to see someone of a racialized minority at the seat, in government at the local government, is huge,” she said.
“It’s important for everyone to see the representation and understand where things come from.”
Abdalla stressed the importance of having Muslim individuals at all levels of government. She also called for all politicians on municipal councils across Ontario to do more to fight Islamophobia.
Meanwhile, Tabasinejad said she hopes the results of Monday’s election will gain momentum in four years.
“The more I think communities on the ground are being engaged and see themselves in the city council process, the more likely in 2026 we will have a higher voter engagement or a higher voter turnout and so I’m hopeful this new cohort will be able to breathe some life back into city hall,” she said.
“This is perhaps, I hope, a wakeup call that people are paying attention to what’s happening at city council and that just because they’re an incumbent doesn’t meant they’re safe and they need to start delivering for their communities.”
With files from Mark McAllister
