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Feeling welcome not a shared experience in nation’s political arena

MPs divulge what it’s like to be an Indigenous or Black woman in politics

RAISA PATEL

OTTAWA—Green Leader Annamie Paul and NDP MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq have weathered very different political experiences since they were elected into their respective roles.

But this week, they both lifted the curtain on what it’s like to be Black or Indigenous on Parliament Hill — and how feeling welcome in Canada’s political arena is an experience not everyone gets to have.

On Wednesday, Paul linked her identity as the first Black and Jewish woman to helm a major federal party to a campaign within the Greens’ inner circle that is seeking to oust her from the party’s top job.

She was referring to a scathing letter brought forward by six members of the party’s federal council, which characterized Paul as angry, hostile and aggressive. Paul and her supporters deemed the letter racist and sexist for leaning on negative tropes ascribed to Black women who speak their minds.

One day earlier, Qaqqaq, an Inuk MP who is not seeking re-election in her riding of Nunavut,

delivered a searing farewell speech to the House of Commons, detailing moments where she was stopped by parliamentary security on her way to work.

“I have never felt safe or protected in my position, especially within the House of Commons, often having pep talks with myself in the elevator or taking a moment in the bathroom stall to maintain my composure,” she said. “When I walk through these doors, not only am I reminded of the clear colonial house on fire I am willingly walking into, I am already in survival mode.”

In response, Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said Qaqqaq’s story was a “sad reflection of where we are.”

The examples shared by both women stem from wider systemic barriers that make Ottawa’s political bubble hard to stomach, says Celina CaesarChavannes, a Black woman and former MP who saw her own tenure as a federal politician reflected in Paul and Qaqqaq’s experiences.

Caesar-Chavannes told the Star that Qaqqaq’s brushes with security on the Hill felt “triggeringly familiar,” because she’s also spoken about being improperly stopped for trying to enter government buildings, not being recognized as an MP and other discriminatory behaviours.

“I did so, so that nobody else would be surprised or have to experience them. The fact that somebody else did is heartbreaking,” Caesar-Chavannes said.

“When it comes to Annamie Paul, when you speak up ... and you’re strong and assertive, you’re labelled and you’re pushed out,” she added. “The system tries to grind you away.”

Caesar-Chavannes left the Liberal caucus to sit as an Independent in 2019, and left politics altogether later that year. In “Can You Hear Me Now?,” a book she recently published reflecting on that period, she describes racist and misogynistic incidents she and other staffers experienced. She also discusses feeling repeatedly sidelined by the Trudeau government by being asked to attend Black-focused events instead of taking on other responsibilities.

The intersection of racism and sexism is where these issues emerge, Caesar-Chavannes said.

This week, that dynamic was pulled into public view for Paul, who is facing a threat to her leadership days after Green MP Jenica Atwin crossed the floor to join the Liberals.

The internal party strife that partly shaped that crossing involve Atwin and Green MP Paul Manly’s decision to go against their leader’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Their comments aligning themselves with Palestinians spurred Paul’s adviser Noah Zatzman to accuse unnamed Green MPs of anti-Semitism and call for their defeat. The party’s federal council has now passed a motion declaring that if Paul does not publicly repudiate Zatzman, a vote of lost confidence in her leadership could take place.

But as the Star first reported in April, Paul was already contending with resistance inside the party. Sean Yo — Paul’s campaign manager during last year’s federal byelection — said the situation should be viewed “through the lens of race, gender and religion” given that the party’s upper ranks are “primarily white.”

The Star later reported that Zahra Mitra, the party’s diversity co-ordinator, sent a lengthy email to party officials stating the Greens have a “very real problem with racism” and that officials have hampered efforts to make the organization more inclusive.

The 27-year-old Qaqqaq, meanwhile, has long been critical of the way politics is carried out in Canada.

She tweeted last September about her swearing-in ceremony as an MP, which took place in Ottawa’s Sir John A. Macdonald Building. She pointedly noted that Macdonald, considered an architect of Canada’s devastating residential school system, could be “turning in his grave” by the Inuk’s initiation into Parliament in a building bearing his name.

In an interview with the Star earlier this month, she also said that while she did not regret her time in the House of Commons, Canada needs more politicians “that aren’t coming from a place of power and privilege.”

“I said to myself, ‘Do I want this? Do I want to do this now that I know what this is?’ And the answer is no.”

There aren’t more Indigenous women in federal politics because they would be working in a system that hasn’t fully adapted to including and respecting diverse voices, said Francyne Joe, a board member with Equal Voice, an organization focused on electing women to all levels of government.

Ottawa, she says, must regularly and repeatedly train protective officers, public servants and politicians to have a stronger understanding of Canada’s cultural makeup and practices.

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2021-06-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

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