Jamaican Members of Ontario's Parliament Inspired by the Same Mentor

By Neil Armstrong

I am sharing some stories about Black candidates in the upcoming Ontario general election that I wrote earlier in the year.

Granville Anderson and Mitzie Hunter, Members of Provincial Parliament, Ontario and Ontario Liberal Party candidates.

 

The two Jamaicans who sit in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario are confident about being re-elected as Ontario Liberal Party members in the provincial general election on June 7.

Sitting in a boardroom adorned with photos of former ministers of skills development and training, colleges and universities – including Jamaicans Alvin Curling and Mary Anne Chambers – are Mitzie Hunter, minister of advanced education and skills development, and Granville Anderson, parliamentary assistant to the minister of education.

Hunter was first elected to the Ontario legislature in 2013 as the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Scarborough-Guildwood and was re-elected in 2014.

Previously the associate minister of finance responsible for the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan from 2014-2016, she later served as minister of education before being recently appointed to her current office.

Anderson was first elected in 2014 as the MPP for Durham and previously served as the parliamentary assistant to the minister of children and youth services 2014-2016.

Both acknowledge the role that Curling, 78, a former MPP of Scarborough-Rouge River and former Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, played as a mentor to them in politics.

Minister Hunter says she feels that she is following the footsteps of a really strong tradition.

In her riding of Scarborough-Guildwood, prior to her election it was a Jamaican woman, Margarett Best, who was the MPP; and prior to Best, there was another Jamaican, Mary Anne Chambers.

Best was a minister of consumer services, and minister of health promotion and sport. Chambers served as minister of training, colleges and universities, and minister of children and youth services.

Hunter says her riding is diverse and many members of the Caribbean community live there. 

Her family immigrated to Canada from Jamaica in 1975 and she attended the University of Toronto Scarborough and worked in the community.

“It’s where I believe that I can make a difference and a positive change for the community and I want to continue to build a strong Scarborough,” she says.

Anderson’s riding in rural Ontario was the stranglehold of the Conservatives for 71 years before he was elected as the Liberal candidate.

Arriving from Jamaica with his family in the early 70s, he spent over thirty years in Durham where he was a school trustee in Clarington for 11 years and chair and vice chair of the school board.

“It’s just giving back to the community. It’s the community that I know,” he says.

Anderson said he didn’t make too many promises to his constituents when he started out, except the GO train to Courtice and Bowmanville which he delivered. 

Recently, he made an announcement about a new hospital that will be built in Bowmanville.

 “We work wonderful together, we’re a great team. We want to see our community thrive and want to do our best for our community, especially our young people, ” he says about the collegiality they share as Jamaicans.

Hunter says they also bring a lens that is important to their work as Jamaican immigrants who have the experience of coming to Canada. Her parents worked hard and they emphasized the value of education.

She said there was always an expectation that she would pursue post-secondary education and she was the first in her immediate family to go to university. Her older brother had gone to college setting an example. 

Hunter has a B.A. from the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus and an MBA from Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.

She said as the minister of education and the first black woman or any person of colour to lead that ministry, she relied on the advice of Anderson, who having served as a school board trustee, brought that knowledge and a rural perspective on that file.

Anderson was a trustee for Peterborough, Victoria, Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board.

Hunter said the government was also able to focus on equity in education resulting in the establishment of an Education Equity Secretariat that examines equity across all of Ontario’s 72 school boards.

“We then released an Education Equity Action Plan which sets out some of the changes that need to be made, making sure that students of all backgrounds, regardless of their personal circumstances they have an opportunity to succeed in school.

She said they knew from the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) data that black students, particularly black males, were not graduating at the rate of the general achievement – 86.5%.

While the ministry was proud of Ontario’s achievement it realized that help was needed in some aspects. The collection of disaggregated data was one of the decisions that they made.

“It’s very important they we know how every student is doing across the province and where help is needed that help can be provided so all students can succeed.”

Hunter said she is very concerned about transit equity and that it is important that they support people in getting around the city and by all modes of transit.

She said the investment that the government wants to make in public transit is really to improve people’s quality of life.

“At the same time there are immediate issues in the community that I’ve certainly prioritized. Literacy is one of the areas that I’ve been focusing on so that the students in my area of Scarborough get the supports that they need to improve their literacy, improve their love of reading. Every child can read, they just need a caring adult or person to read with them and so we want to make literacy a focus in the riding.”

The MPP does a book drive in her constituency office annually and receive hundreds of books that are donated to local organizations like the Native Family and Child Services, and the East Scarborough Boys and Girls Club. They drop off school supplies at local schools that they know are in high-needs areas within the community.

One of the things she is currently working on is how to establish a community hub that could provide much needed services and supports to families in the east end of Scarborough.

Hunter said she is currently working with local members of the community,  councillors, and others to bring that into the area.

Anderson said transportation is the main issue for him. He believes that people should have more time to spend at home with their children than trying to get around.

He said while out knocking on doors one of the main concerns he heard was about the GO train.

The plan to increase the GO service to Courtice and Bowmanville is going through the tendering process now so by 2024 there should be a GO train to those cities with two additional stations in Whitby and Oshawa.

Education and employment opportunities are also important to him.

Hunter said youth jobs are a priority and she carries on the tradition of holding a youth career fair in her riding.

On February 23, she will be hosting the 5^th annual youth career fair which is an opportunity for hundreds of students from high schools and elementary schools to explore what careers they could potentially work towards, as well as immediate summer jobs for the upcoming season.

Hunter said she is proud of the work that the government is doing in the free tuition program.

“Any student, regardless of age because there’s no age limit, that wants to go to college, university or to obtain an upgrade can do that by getting the financial support that they need,” says the former parliamentary assistant to the minister of community and social services from 2013 to 2014.

“ I feel that I am someone who listens to the needs in my community and I work hard to respond to those needs. I have constituents who were concerned about fair housing and access to good quality, particularly rental housing or the cost of it. And our government brought in a fair housing plan.”

She said there are many minimum wage earners in her community who have now received a $2.60 increase to their hourly wage with the raise of the minimum wage to $14.

If the Liberals are re-elected, she said, there is already a policy to increase that amount to $15 on January 1, 2019.

Hunter says she believes that there is a clear choice to be made if people value free tuition and free prescription medications for youth under the age of 25 and children.

Anderson said the unemployment rate in Durham has decreased considerably and he wants to continue to make his community better.

“We bring much needed diversity and inclusion to our caucus, to Cabinet and it’s important that the community and young people in the community see themselves represented in government,” said Hunter.

[This story was published in the North American Weekly Gleaner.]