By Neil Armstrong
The Member of Parliament for York South-Weston, who was born
and raised in Somalia and immigrated to Canada in 1993, was the special guest
at an event organized by Operation Black Vote Canada (OBVC) and the Canadian
Association of Urban Financial Professionals (CAUFP) at KPMG in Toronto on July
27.
“You have to engage, you have to be at the table, you have
to be unabashed about pushing the issues that you care about, and that,
obviously, is not just elections. You have to be active in-between elections
and make sure that you hold us to account, and have those difficult, but tough
and necessary conversations, because that’s the only way that progress will
come. Progress will not come if you wait to be invited to the table.”
The lawyer and social activist, who co-founded the Regent
Park Community Council in 2002, said his work with the council was his longest
uninterrupted time in community service.
He had a job in Queen’s Park working for the leader of the
official opposition at the time, Dalton McGuinty, for about 10 hours per day,
and evenings and weekends were taken up with Regent Park.
Hussen said the community service taught him the power of
organizing.
“It was about coming together, identifying issues in the
community and coming up with credible and well-researched solutions.”
Hussen said as a newly-elected MP, he stood up in the House
of Commons and asked the Parliament of Canada to adopt name-blind recruitment.
Studies in Australia, Canada, UK and the US showed that a
person with an English last name was fifty percent more likely to get a job
interview versus someone with the same experiences and educational background
who did not have an English last name.
It took 14 months, but the government – which employs
400,000 people, the largest employer in Canada -- decided to implement this
recruitment as a test in six of its largest ministries.
They will do this until November and if the results show
that the recruitment is closing the gap then they will implement it in the rest
of the government.
The minister said he is also proud of the fact that as a backbencher
MP he worked with a group of dedicated black men and women for the last 14
months who have come up with a national comprehensive plan.
“What I was really impressed with this group, the Federation
of Black Canadians, is they identified the problems in a comprehensive manner
in a report, well researched, well documented, thoroughly so, and then they
offered solutions. And their whole mantra was the solution will come from the
community, not from the government. We will tell you what you need to do for
us. You are not going to tell us what we need for us.”
The federation presented to the 416 caucus, the Black caucus
in Ottawa, individual MPs, and a few weeks ago met with the Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau to present their report.
“That was the
crowning moment in my very short political career because it showed me that it
fit all the boxes that I was looking for – having the community come forward
and the politician not being patronizing but being facilitative and genuine in
doing that…”
On the matter of immigration, Hussen said, as a former
immigrant to Canada and a former immigration refugee lawyer, he has brought
that perspective to the ministry.
“It’s in line with what Ottawa was heading towards but I
bring a specific perspective which is to be facilitative, to welcome more
people to this country, whether they’re coming to visit or work, to have an
unapologetic humanitarian program where we will always welcome refugees and
those who seek protection and never shy away from that.”
The minister said he would also encourage other governments
to do that and to push back against the anti-immigrant, anti-refugee and
anti-migrant rhetoric around the world.
He will continue to look at immigration as a great source
for economic development.
Hussen referenced a study done by Century Initiative which shows
that immigrants create jobs and don’t take jobs away from Canadians, create
jobs and bring prosperity.
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