Wider representation needed on city council

A recently assembled group that has dedicated itself to getting more women elected around the Brandon council table has been making headlines in the province in the past few weeks as it encourages more women to get politically engaged.

Just last week, Her Seat at the Table hosted a two-hour “come-and-go” event to introduce interested women to the ins and outs of running for city council. The event, by all accounts, was quite successful, with at least 65 people of all ages and persuasions in attendance.

With the next municipal election a little more than 10 months away, it’s the right time for potential candidates who are kicking the tires at a run for office to start taking a more serious look.

Our current council sports but one woman out of the 11 available seats, and it’s well known that only one woman has ever served as mayor of this city. So there’s definitely a need — and apparently a desire — to balance out the gender equation when it comes to our city councillors.

And it’s more than just for fairness sake. Without those female voices in the mix when decisions are made, our council can’t really describe itself as representative of the population.

However, it’s worth pointing out that there are other groups that are not represented at city hall either, all of whom should also be encouraged to seek leadership positions.

As of the 2021 Census, there were more than 7,000 Indigenous people in the city of Brandon, making up about 14.2 per cent of the population. Of those, more than half (55.5 per cent) identified as First Nations people, 41.1 per cent identified as Métis, and 0.2 per cent identified as Inuit. And it’s highly likely that the number of Indigenous people in Brandon has risen over the last few years.

The same 2021 data set suggested that Brandon is home to thousands of other visible minorities — 21.4 per cent of the population — including persons of African, South Asian, Latin American and Filipino descent.

Brandon has become a growing cosmopolitan city on the Prairies, a fact that all Brandonites should be proud of. We have a flourishing diversity of culture — including music, food, business and religion — that is reflective of that cosmopolitan nature. And yet, Indigenous peoples and our newcomer populations are not well represented around the council table either.

While Coun. Kris Desjarlais is of Métis heritage, Brandon’s only other recent minority member of council came and went with the short term of Sunday Frangi, who became the first Black councillor in Brandon’s history back in a 2021 byelection, only to lose his seat in the 2023 municipal election.

Suffice to say, we believe it’s worth encouraging men and women of all of this city’s ethnic and religious backgrounds to consider making a run for office. But that may be easier said than done.

Immigrants and so-called “racialized” communities still face significant barriers when it comes to running for elected office. Nationally, there are grassroots organizations like Operation Black Vote Canada and The Canadian-Muslim Vote that, much like Her Seat At the Table, work to train and encourage individuals from these groups to participate in Canada’s political process.

Although locals who are interested can reach out for guidance, these groups don’t have a presence in Brandon. There is room, perhaps, for another grassroots movement here that could lay the groundwork.

Yet even as we encourage more women and minorities to run for local office, there is an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed. It’s one thing to run, but it’s quite another to win. And — to butcher a line from William Shakespeare — the fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves.

Not only do potential candidates — any potential candidates — have to show that they are qualified to run and come to the table with good ideas, our community has to ultimately make the choice to vote for them. Yet in recent years, there has been a growing resentment toward immigrants in our society, one that has been fanned by populist politicians bent on their own political fortunes.

Similarly, those same forces have been driving the growth of threats and harassment toward women at all levels of government. This growth is based in a chauvinistic worldview that runs counter to good government and fair democratic principles.

Perhaps more damning is the fact that far too many voters in our city appear to tune out when it comes round to municipal, provincial and federal elections. Just take the last municipal election, held on Oct. 26, 2022, when only 17.9 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots.

We challenge Brandon residents to do better.

We challenge everyone who calls this city home to take more interest in local affairs, and to do their part to make this a better community for all its residents. And that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to run for office to participate.

It simply means that you need to take an interest, and show up on election day to vote.

That action alone would do wonders for the quality of our local government.