The
Hill Times, July 26, 2004
NEWS STORY
Punjabi is now fourth language in the House
'My wish is that we were more reflective of the
population': Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh
By
F. Abbas Rana
The Punjabi language is now the fourth language in
the House of Commons after English, French and Italian with the
election of eight Punjabi-speaking MPs in the June 28 election.
A total of 10 South Asian Canadian
MPs were elected in the last election across the country, including
six Liberal and four Conservatives. The Liberals are re-elected
Gurbax Malhi (Bramalea-Gore-Malton, Ont.), newly-elected Ruby Dhalla
(Brampton-Springdale, Ont.), newly-elected Wajid Khan (Mississauga-Streetsville,
Ont.), newly-elected Navdeep Bains (Mississauga-Brampton South,
Ontario), newly-elected Ujjal Dosanjh (Vancouver South, B.C.) and
newly-elected Yasmin Ratansi (Don Valley East, Ont.).
Conservatives are re-elected Gurmant
Grewal (Newton-North Delta, B.C.) and his wife, newly-elected Nina
Grewal (Fleetwood-Port Kells, B.C.), re-elected Deepak Obhrai
(Calgary East, Alta.) and re-elected Rahim Jaffer (Edmonton-Strathcona,
Alta.). With the exception of Mr. Jaffer and Ms. Ratansi, all speak
Punjabi.
Mr. Dosanjh, a former NDP premier of
British Columbia, was named federal Health Minister in Prime
Minister Paul Martin's (LaSalle-Êmard, Qué.) new Cabinet last week
and Mr. Malhi was appointed as a Parliamentary Secretary to the
Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development.
In the 37th Parliament, there were
five MPs of South Asian origin, including Mr. Malhi, Mr. Grewal, Mr.
Obhrai, Mr. Jaffer, and former minister of natural resources Herb
Dhaliwal.
In contrast, 12 Italian Canadians
were elected to the House of Commons in the last election and seven
were appointed to the Cabinet. There were 16 Italian-Canadian MPs in
the 37th Parliament.
According to Statistics Canada, there
are 271,220 people in Canada who identify the Punjabi language as
their mother tongue. It is ranked as sixth by Canadians as their
mother tongue. English, French, Italian, German and Cantonese are
ahead of the Punjabi language, according to this survey.
The Punjabi language, which is widely
spoken in India and Pakistan along with numerous other languages, is
the official language of the Indian state of Punjab, and is also
spoken in other parts of the country. In Pakistan, Punjabi, however,
does not have the official status in the province of Punjab as Urdu
and English are used as the official languages by Pakistani Punjabis
in schools and offices. Punjabis, however, are the largest single
linguistic group in Pakistan.
For his part, newly-minted Health
Minister Dosanjh told The
Hill Times in
an interview last week that although "diversity in Canada is
increasing," there is still room for improvement.
"It's nice to see people from
different backgrounds. It's obviously wonderful to see
Punjabi-speaking Members of Parliament in such a significant number.
My wish is that we [all MPs] were more reflective of the [Canadian]
population both in terms of gender and other diversity," said Mr.
Dosanjh.
"Diversity in Canada is increasing
and if you look at visible minority Members of Parliament, the
number of those people in the Parliament today, I don't think that
they adequately reflect the population in the country. I am not
talking about the quota system, but obviously across the country, if
I remember correctly, 15 to 20 per cent of the population is [made
up of] people of colour and the number of MPs belonging to those
backgrounds aren't as large. It's also equally true that the number
of women in the House of Commons isn't reflective of the population
either. They are much less than 50 per cent and while Canada
continues to make progress, we are not there yet."
Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla, a former Miss
India Canada 1993, said the election of 10 South Asian MPs is a good
news for ethnic communities and predicted that this number will
likely increase in the future as the increase in the number of MPs
of South Asian origin will encourage people belonging to minority
groups to become more involved in the political process.
"Elected women are role models to
women [who are not active in politics]. When you get people from the
South Asian community or the Italian community get elected, you are
an inspiration or role model to others, or, those particular
communities. But what's really important is that, first and
foremost, we have to remember we are all Canadians and the issues of
health care and the issues of child care, the issues of seniors are
important to every Canadian across the country regardless of what
ethnic background you are from."
Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai, who
was first elected in 1997, said that the increase in the number of
MPs from the South Asian community and Punjabi-speaking MPs will
contribute significantly in the discussion of public policy issues.
"I am very happy to see that we have
such a diversity in the Parliament of Canada that reflects the
population of Canada. All these MPs bring their own point of view
which will enhance the debate on the national agenda," said Mr.
Obhrai.
"It gives strength to the Canadian
mosaic, it gives strength to the nation. At the end of the day, the
big winner out of all this is Canada. This will bring diversity,
different points of views will come into public life to make things
better for Canada and for the future generations."arana@hilltimes.com The
Hill Times
Population Of Canada By Mother Tongue
1. English - 17,352,315
2. French - 6,703,330
Non-official languages - 5,202,245
3. Italian - 469,490
4. German - 438,085
5. Chinese - 425,080 (5) Cantonese
322,310 Mandarin 101,790 Hakka 4,565
6. Punjabi - 271,220
7. Spanish - 245,495
8. Portuguese - 213,810
9. Polish - 208,375
Source: Statistics Canada 2001
Census
MPs of South Asian Origin
1. Liberal MP Gurbax Malhi (Bramalea-Gore-Malton,
Ont.)
2. Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla
(Brampton-Springdale, Ont.)
3. Liberal MP Wajid Khan
(Mississauga-Streetsville, Ont.)
4. Liberal MP Navdeep Bains
(Mississauga-Brampton South, Ontario)
5. Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh
(Vancouver South, B.C.)
6. Liberal MP Yasmin Ratansi (Don
Valley East, Ont.)
7. Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal
(Newton-North Delta, B.C.)
8. Conservative MP Nina Grewal
(Fleetwood-Port Kells, B.C.)
9. Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai
(Calgary East, Alta.)
10.
Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer (Edmonton-Strathcona, Alta.)
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