South Asian women enter Vancouver's municipal election

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      The boys have all packed up and left, but two women in Vancouver’s second-largest minority group are stepping up to the plate.

      Niki Sharma and Sandy Sharma are running in this year’s municipal election, one in which no South Asian male politicians wanted to participate.

      Vancouver hasn’t been a kind place for municipal politicians of South Asian heritage.

      No woman from that community has been elected so far. Tracey Jastinder Mann was the last who tried for any of the larger parties, as a Green candidate for park board in 2005. She finished fifth from last.

      In four decades since the 1970s, only three male South Asians have been elected to civic positions in the city. These are Setty Pendakur, a city councillor in the 1970s; Harkirpal Sara, a school-board trustee in the 1980s; and Raj Hundal, who was elected as a park commissioner in 2008.

      Niki Sharma is a last-minute recruit of Vision Vancouver as the ruling party needed a fifth candidate for park board.

      Born to immigrant parents from India, the University of Alberta–schooled lawyer grew up in B.C.’s interior town of Sparwood. She says she’s very proud of her heritage.

      “But I’m also proud to be Canadian and, most importantly, proud to be a Vancouverite, and I think that’s not unlike many residents from a range of backgrounds that call Vancouver home,” Sharma told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview. “The focus on this campaign will be less on my cultural background and more on the issues.”

      Sandy Sharma was also recently drafted as a candidate. She’s running for school board with the Non-Partisan Association but didn’t respond to calls made by the Straight to the number provided by the party.

      According to Ken Denike, the longest-serving school-board trustee with the NPA, Sandy Sharma has a good shot because of her experience as a member of the executive of the district parent advisory council.

      In 2008, six South Asian male politicians ran for various municipal positions with Vision, NPA, and the Coalition of Progressive Electors. All of them ended at the bottom of their respective slates for council, school board, and park board, although Hundal managed a squeaker of a win.

      Hundal isn’t running for reelection, but he has been nominated as a candidate for the B.C. NDP. The five other former candidates in the last election aren’t running this year.

      “The City of Vancouver does need to represent, be representative of, its ethnic makeup,” Hundal told the Straight in a phone interview.

      Of Vancouver’s 571,600 people counted in the 2006 census, 32,515 are of South Asian descent. They are a distant second to the Chinese as a visible minority, who number 168,215, and only slightly larger a group than the Filipino community’s 28,605.

      The lack of South Asian representation in Vancouver’s political life may be serving as a great motivation for women to run for office, according to Indira Prahst, who was recently appointed as chair of Langara’s department of sociology and anthropology.

      “The question first that comes to mind is, ‘Are these women entering a race not aware of the challenges that exist for South Asians in politics?’ Prahst said in a phone interview. “Or is it that these women, in fact, are believing in themselves, believing in their credentials, having done grassroots activism…and feel confident that they’re able to address community issues?”

      Vision park-board chair Aaron Jasper is aware of the frustrations with the city’s at-large system of electing candidates, which is seen by some as discriminatory against ethnic-minority candidates.

      “I think there is validity to that concern,” Jasper told the Straight by phone. “Is a ward system the answer? I don’t think so. But perhaps we should have a conversation. Perhaps there is some proportional system, a mixed system, some way to address that.”

      As for the park-board candidacy of Vision’s Niki Sharma, Jasper said that the party saw her not as a South Asian candidate but simply as a valuable member of the team.

      Comments

      14 Comments

      physcoast

      Sep 22, 2011 at 8:07am

      Isn't RJ Aquino Filipino? I always thought of the Philippines as South Asia - or is South East Asia separate?

      Sheep

      Sep 22, 2011 at 10:28am

      South Asians as in East Indians get shafted at the Polls in Vancouver.

      Due to the mix of other Asians who will never Vote for East Indians (attitudes from the old country).

      Also "Canadians" in Vancouver rarely vote in numbers for East Indians if ever.

      Yes Race plays in Vancouver...UNFORTUNATELY.

      GZLFB

      Sep 22, 2011 at 5:11pm

      I guess the Filipino woman in 2008 didn't count to you because she was independent, and not this young and hot. You can pull all the "liberal guilt" crap you want. But you are still anti-independent, plus look agist and/or lookist. Or can open the door to the accusation. Oh, anti-papist. I was two of those, well after I reacted to the tegritol a little of the asian too, My damn Han liver. Juliet did get coverage when she ran as a BC Liberal provincially funny enough. Seems you need the brand name most of all.

      GZLFB

      Sep 23, 2011 at 5:33pm

      Sharma, I new one, he was Persian. More a Gulf than South East.

      glen p robbins

      Sep 23, 2011 at 5:54pm

      I'm moving to Vancouver just to vote for Niki.

      Butt Head

      Sep 25, 2011 at 1:35pm

      I only Vote for Ladies who look nice between 21-41...:)

      I am not racist when it comes to Ladies :)

      I like all Ladies equally, I said Ladies Only :)

      KiDDAA Magazine

      Oct 11, 2011 at 4:00pm

      We are a huge part of this province, Punjabis and South Asians. www.KiDDAA.com
      We have almost 250,000 population in BC.

      monty/that's me

      Oct 12, 2011 at 8:06am

      Your constant focus on ethnicity is tiresome. It sounds as if you have a prejudice against any others who may be white, yellow, blue, green, purple. Whatever. The focus should be on knowledge of issues, and the public should be told who contributed to candidates in the past. Then, perhaps developers won't have so much opportunity to ruin Vancouver and Surrey.

      Lawson1945

      Oct 12, 2011 at 5:13pm

      @monty/that's me I totally agree with you!

      Parm S

      Oct 14, 2011 at 2:16pm

      kiddaa magazine, I'm Indo-Canadian and I always feel embarassed after reading the comments that you post on the georgia straight. It's usually angry, racist and ignorant. I would never read your magazine. I thought you'd be out of business by now.