Extending the right to vote to all Toronto residents is a cause worth supporting. Visit the I Vote Toronto Campaign website @ http://www.ivotetoronto.org/

Quick Facts about the I Vote Toronto Campaign

I Vote Toronto is a community campaign that seeks to extend municipal voting rights to all permanent residents living in Toronto.

* Granting residents who are not citizens the right to vote is not a new idea. Jurisdictions in over 30 countries, including the United States, Great Britain, Argentina, Australia, The Netherlands and Israel allow non-citizens to vote at the local level.


* In Ontario, 130 000 students have parents who cannot even vote for their school board trustee. Many of these students are concentrated in the same schools and neighbourhoods. This leaves entire schools and geographic areas without a local voice.


* In Ontario, property owners (and their spouses) still have more rights than residents. A property owner can vote in any municipality in which he or she owns property. This means someone with a property in each of Ontario's 444 municipalities can vote in all 444 municipal elections, even though they do not reside in all of them. On the other hand, many residents who pays municipal taxes, use local services and have a stake in the community have no voice.


* Low voting neighbourhoods are disproportionately located in the North York, York and Scarborough areas of Toronto.


* Until 1947, Canadian citizenship did not exist. After its creation, British subjects were still allowed to vote in local elections until the 1970s. British subjects were eligible to vote in Nova Scotia's municipalities until 2003. The idea of tying local voting to citizenship is very new, and non-citizen voting was the practice for most of Canada's history.


* Between 1991 and 2001, (Canada’s largest sustained decade of newcomer arrivals), the city regions of Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal attracted 73\% of all immigrants to Canada. The Toronto area alone attracted 43\% of all immigrants to Canada in this period.

You may want to attend this event:


Your Family Paycheque: Is It Keeping Pace?

The third in a series of FORUMS presented with the Toronto Star
as part of its War on Poverty series.


Tuesday May 8, 7:30-9:30 pm, 2007
27 Front Street East, 2 blocks east of Union Station, Toronto

The answer depends on who you ask. If you're from Forest Hill or Rosedale you're probably doing better than ever. If you're a senior living in Regent Park, a single parent, new to Canada, or of colour you're probably falling behind. The rest are working longer and harder to earn the same paycheque as 30 years ago and fear slipping behind. A slew of reports have studied this trend with the latest, the Rich and the Rest of Us, documenting what many of us know instinctively – there is a growing wage gap between the richest in our society and the majority of Canadians.

The income gap isn't just about money, its about life opportunities, education, recreation, transit and the benefits associated with better jobs. How does the income gap affect you, your friends and neighbours? Why in a booming economy isn't the wage gap shrinking as it normally would? What does this income polarization mean for the kind of society we want as Canadians? Where should we look for solutions - to the tax and transfer system or to the market?

Bob Rae: Liberal Candidate for Toronto Centre; former Premier of Ontario.
Armine Yalnizyan: Economist and author of the Rich and the Rest of Us, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives; Research Director for the Community Social Planning Council of Toronto.
Finn Poschmann: Director of Research, C.D. Howe Institute.
Parbattie Shirley Ramsarran: Chair, Centre for Social Justice and community activist; teaches Sociology at York University.

Moderator: Thomas Walkom: Political columnist, the Toronto Star.

This free public forum is presented by the St. Lawrence Centre FORUM and the Toronto Star.

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/184159

Toronto Summit 2007

Working Paper: Diversity
A snapshot of reports on diversity

February 22, 2007
The Toronto City Summit Alliance is hosting a two-day meeting on Monday and Tuesday to find ways to address the challenges facing the city. The Star is looking at the issues. Today we offer a snapshot of reports on diversity. Tomorrow: education and culture.

WORKING PAPER: DIVERSITY

THE PROBLEM

While the official motto of the city of Toronto – Diversity Our Strength – looks good on paper, it doesn't, unfortunately, match reality.

Despite being one of the most diverse regions on the planet – 44 per cent of GTA residents were born outside of Canada and 37 per cent are visible minorities – this diversity is not reflected in the electoral process, governance and leadership of the city and its institutions.

Participation in the electoral process – voting, running for office, serving on public boards and agencies – is key to engendering a sense of belonging and civic pride for all residents, including newcomers.

In Ontario, only Canadian citizens are allowed to vote. The citizenship process can take three years or more, which means that 263,000 permanent residents in the city of Toronto are shut out of voting in municipal elections.


Twenty-six countries around the world, including some in the European Union, have extended voting rights to non-citizen residents, primarily at the municipal level. New Zealand is probably the most progressive nation in the world in this regard. Since 1975, the country has allowed non-citizen permanent residents who have lived in the country for at least a year to vote in all elections, from municipal to national.


While leveraging diversity helps the bottom line by boosting decision-making, workplace culture and productivity, Canadian companies lag behind those in the United States in terms of ethnic minority representation at the board level. Only 44 per cent of corporate boards in Canada have at least one visible-minority member at the table, compared with 80 per cent in the U.S., according to a 2005 report.



The Conference Board of Canada says that while Canadian companies pay lip service to diversity, they have yet to fully commit themselves, in resources and practice, to promoting it within their organizations.


However, there are hopeful recent developments.

A program called abcGTA, launched by the Maytree Foundation, is trying to boost diversity on the governance bodies of public agencies, boards and commissions (abc's). Since 2005, it has recruited nearly 200 candidates and placed 69 of them on boards.


Inclusive Cities Canada, which brings political and community leaders together to promote diversity, is pushing to extend the municipal vote to non-citizens.

Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council has helped expand job opportunities for recently arrived skilled immigrants through internships, mentoring and raising public awareness.

BARRIER AND OBSTACLES

Citizenship requirement: The major obstacle to ensuring more inclusive participation in the electoral process is the citizenship rule. Cities don't have the right to decide who can vote in municipal elections. Under the Ontario Municipal Elections Act (1996), the ballot is limited to Canadian citizens.

No counting: There is also a lack of baseline data, making it difficult to monitor how much progress private corporations and public institutions are making in the quest to reflect the city's diversity. Without such data, it's difficult to set goals and track change.

Lack of connections: Networking is crucial if visible minorities are going to participate fully in government and business, but they tend to lack access to networks that could connect them to key leaders and hence opportunities.

The result? Marginalization and missed opportunities.

QUESTIONS

1. Should we amend the Ontario Municipal Elections Act (1996) to let municipalities decide who can vote in local elections?

Will permanent residents even want this privilege – or will they be as indifferent as citizens when it comes to voting?

And how do we garner public support and awareness to make such a campaign successful?

2. How do we create opportunities and improve access of minorities to networks that could help them to succeed?

3. How do we establish a monitoring system, perhaps a report card, to set goals and track participation rates of visible minorities, women, youth, aboriginal peoples and those with disabilities in the governance of public institutions and large private corporations?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adapted by Prithi Yelaja from the Toronto City Summit Alliance report

The following paper on the Roles of the Eritrean Diaspora in Peacebuilding and Development was presented at the Oct 2006 University for Peace's international conference on Diaspora and Peacebuilding held in Toronto.

http://www.toronto.upeace.org/diaspora/documents/Eritrean_Diaspora.pdf

The following link provides info on other papers presented, conference agenda and other resources: http://www.toronto.upeace.org/diaspora/index.html

www.thestar.com

Premier cool to non-citizens having the vote
But Miller pushes election changes
Immigrants need `a say' at ballot box

Oct. 25, 2006. 01:00 AM
ROB FERGUSON AND VANESSA LU
STAFF REPORTERS


Premier Dalton McGuinty has poured cold water on Mayor David Miller's push to let Toronto's 200,000 landed immigrants vote in municipal elections.

Although the premier's own municipal affairs minister, John Gerretsen, has said he's willing to look at the pros and cons of the idea, McGuinty ruled it out yesterday.

"I know very well new immigrants are eager to gain this right," McGuinty said in French heading into the Liberals' weekly caucus meeting at Queen's Park. "But it's a right that comes with citizenship."

Miller, who raised the issue during a meeting with the Star's editorial board this week, said it's too important an issue to drop, saying he'll continue to urge the premier to look at changes to the Municipal Elections Act.

"We're going to push for him to give it a second thought," he said. "It's not an issue that deserves an off-the-cuff response. It deserves to be thought through and examined carefully.

"I think, perhaps, the premier hadn't had an opportunity to think about it like I have," Miller said.

He argued that, if someone who lives in Calgary but owns property in Toronto is allowed to vote, then non-citizen residents should also get a say in how the city is run.

"I don't believe it's a coincidence that there is a much higher proportion of landed immigrants who can't vote in Toronto neighbourhoods that have the least services because they haven't been able to speak up and have a say at the ballot box," the mayor said.

Miller also argued that such a change wouldn't necessarily break new ground, noting that, in the past, British subjects were allowed to vote in municipal elections. The rules were changed in time for the 1988 municipal vote.

With the largest chunk of new immigrants choosing to settle in Toronto, Miller is also touting a new agreement with the federal and provincial governments that gives the city "a seat at the table."

While the deal signed on Sept. 29 does not give Toronto any new funding, it could pave the way for dollars down the road, said Phillip Abrahams, the city's manager of intergovernmental relations.

"It goes beyond the abstract," said Abrahams.

"What we're envisaging is we'll develop work plans on policies and co-ordinate programs" with Ottawa and Queen's Park, in areas such as education and training, employment services, and citizenship and engagement, he said.

"It's a framework under which we can work together," said Abrahams, noting it was the first such agreement with any Canadian city.