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Youths urge New West council to support permanent residents’ right to vote

Permanent residents in Canada may be able to work, volunteer, pay taxes, and campaign and donate to election campaigns, but what they can’t do is vote. Several young people appeared before city council on Jan.
New Westminster City Hall
The City of New Westminster will hire a consultant to help it develop and implement a framework that advances diversity, inclusion and equity across the civic organization. Diversity and inclusion is also something being pursued by the New Westminster Police Department.

Permanent residents in Canada may be able to work, volunteer, pay taxes, and campaign and donate to election campaigns, but what they can’t do is vote.

Several young people appeared before city council on Jan. 14 to seek New Westminster’s support for the Fresh Voices’ #LostVotesYVR campaign, which advocates for giving permanent residents the right to vote.

Sajedeh Zaki, a New West resident who moved to Canada six years ago, said young people’s voices need to be heard.

“If this motion of Lost Votes is passed, in terms of us permanent residents, we will be able to vote,” she said. “It also encourages young people to be more involved in what is happening in the city or even the federal level.”

Since moving to Canada with his family when he was 16, Raunaq Singh has served on city committees and participated in elections. His Social Studies 11 teacher “hyped” the electoral process and Canadians’ ability to vote, but when he was 18 he was surprised to find out he was unable to vote.

“That unfortunately is the reality for a lot of permanent residents, thousands of permanent residents who live across the province,” said Singh, who will soon be able to vote as he’s taking his oath of citizenship this month. “It simply doesn’t make sense to me why someone … who lives here, works here, volunteers in our communities and also pay taxes, why they should be unable to have a say in their governance, why they shouldn’t have a say in who represents them.”

Coun. Nadine Nakagawa put forward a motion in support of the Fresh Voices’ #LostVotesYVR campaign. The resolution, which will go to the Lower Mainland Local Government Association convention and then the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention, would ask the province to make the necessary changes that would allow permanent residents to vote in municipal elections in B.C.

“Permanent residents are active members of our community in every sense of the word,” she said. “They volunteer. They live here. They donate money to causes and they are involved in the same way that citizens are.”

Several council members said they met people during the 2018 election campaign who told them they were unable to vote because they were permanent residents.

“I think it’s time to have this debate,” said Coun. Mary Trentadue. “It feels to me somewhat like a caste system that is not appropriate anymore.”

The issue is one that hits close to home for Coun. Chinu Das, who immigrated to Canada 40 years ago and wasn’t able to vote for 20 years because she was a permanent resident.

“I felt like I was silenced for 20 years,” she said. “That shouldn’t be the case. I really think this is long overdue.”