Seventy-two years ago, a young man from Punjab started a new trend in Canadian politics. He became the first South Asian to be elected to public office. Now more than 100 migrants of Punjabi origin are vying for municipal elections in five Canadian provinces in October/November this year.
Municipal elections are scheduled in British Columbia (October 15), Northwest Territories (October 17), Ontario (October 24), Manitoba (October 26) and Prince Edward Island (November 7).
Municipalities in these provinces will elect not only mayors and councillors, but also regional councilors and school trustees. Among those in the running are now Canadian-born young professionals who have now opted for life in the public domain. Municipal elections are for a four-year term.
“Thank you to all citizens of Mission City. It is an honor for this community to have elected the first East Indian to public office in the history of our great dominion. It shows your openness, tolerance and consideration,” read a public notice (advertisement) given by Niranjan Grewal in a local Mission BC newspaper in 1950.
Known to his circle of friends as “Giani,” Naranjan Grewall was the first Indian ever elected to political office in North America. Born in Dhudike, “Giani” moved to British Columbia in 1925. In 1941, he made Mission City in the Fraser Valley his hometown. Grewall worked as a millwright at Fraser Mills and was elected union representative.
He owned and operated six sawmills to become one of British Columbia’s largest employers and most influential business leaders. In 1950, he decided to run for political office in his hometown. He entered an election battle against six other candidates for the Mission City Board of Commissioners election.
As popular as he was, “Giani” finished on top. Two years later, he was elected for a second consecutive term during which he was unanimously elected president of the council by his fellow commissioners for the year 1954.
When Mission City went to the polls in 2018, it elected two councilors – Ken Herar and Jag Gill. Now, in the October elections this year, no candidate of Punjabi origin will be vying to become mayor of Naranjan Grewal town. Although Mission does not have a Punjabi mayor in 2022, many other municipalities in British Columbia, Ontario and Manitoba will see candidates of Punjabi descent run for mayor.
The trend started by Naranjan Grewall in British Columbia was continued by Jyoti Gondek (Calgary) and Amarjeet Sohi (Edmonton) who were both elected mayors in October last year.
Jyoti holds a PhD in urban sociology while Amarjeet Sohi had an interesting political background starting his career as a bus driver. He remained councilor and deputy. He was federal Minister of Infrastructure and Communities as well as Minister of Natural Resources.
Jyoti Gondek also happens to be Calgary’s first female mayor and the first woman of Indian descent to hold the office. The growing enthusiasm of the Indo-Canadian community for municipal politics is reflected in the number of community candidates running for mayor. In Toronto, three candidates of Indian origin are in the running. They are Sandeep Srivastava, Knia Singh and Arjuna Gupta.
In Brampton, in the Canadian Punjab, four candidates of Indian origin are running for the post of mayor. Vidya Sagar Gautam, Nikki Kaur, Prabh Kaur Mand and Bob Singh will oppose incumbent President Patrick Brown in the October 24 election. Bob Singh, who previously filed for council in Mississauga, is now running for mayor.
In Mississauga, another city with a large South Asian migrant population, there are at least two candidates of Indian descent in the mayoral race. They are Derek Ramkissoon and Jayesh Trivedi.
In Vaughan, it is Parveen Bola, a nurse by training, who will oppose the former Liberal leader of Ontario, Stephen Del Luca. Also in the fray is Robert Gulassorian, a real estate agent.
Besides Param Singh in Ottawa, another Indian migrant running for mayor is Rajiv Dhawan of Milton.
(Prabhjot Singh is a seasoned journalist with over three decades of experience covering a wide range of topics and stories. He has covered Punjab and Sikh affairs for over three decades, in addition to covering seven Olympics and several major sporting events and hosting television shows. For more in-depth analysis, please visit probingeye.com or follow him on Twitter.com/probingeye)
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