Within hours of that foray into the neighbourhood, the average resident encounters obstacles and opportunities that say, "Welcome, come in and participate," or, "Stand in line and take a number."
For an estimated 263,000 people in the city of Toronto, the message is, "We'll take your taxes, your labour, your contributions, your children and your money, but you don't get a say in how Toronto conducts its affairs until you have the certificate of citizenship."
That certificate comes after a minimum four-year wait. For some, the time runs longer as they must sever official ties with the old country. Others are refugee claimants and it can take more than a decade for Canada to determine their status. Meanwhile, they are denied the key affirmation of citizenship – the vote.
Now, one may be able to proffer some latent argument to exclude new residents from the voting booth in a national election. Newcomers need time to digest their new country and its customs. Voting is a serious matter that can determine a country's fiscal, military, social and spiritual future, so it should be entered into with deliberation and care.
There are counter-arguments to such viewpoints, of course, but most people accept a reasonable waiting period of four years or so. New Zealand has the most liberal rules – allowing non-citizens to vote in national elections after one year of residency – and the country hasn't gone to rot.
A Toronto group is angling to liberalize rules governing who can vote in Ontario. This week they taped public service spots that will make the case for allowing non-citizen residents the right to vote in local elections for school boards and city council. To press the issue, I Vote has planned a public forum June 10 at city hall.
I Vote's position is more than reasonable. The sooner a resident can and does vote, the earlier she becomes engaged and shares a stake in her new home. It's why we support efforts to engage students in the voting process as early as elementary school.
Census Canada figures show huge swaths of some Toronto wards where the majority of people can't vote. These precincts are the same ones with a preponderance of poverty, social needs and a sense of alienation. In areas where the need for political representation and advocacy is greatest, we have the least likelihood of such an outcome. In fact, canvassing politicians often avoid such areas because the crop of potential voters is not a bountiful one.
A wise city dies not write off its newcomers. Certainly, Toronto should not, considering it gets some 55,000 new ones each year.
I Vote Toronto hopes city council will vote on the issue before the end of the year. The goal is changes to provincial legislation in time for the 2010 municipal election.
If the idea doesn't find root here, where Diversity is Our Strength and we boast about being "home to the world," it has no chance elsewhere.
Desmond Cole, coordinator for the campaign, demonstrates the idiocy of current rules: A North Bay businessman leasing property in Toronto can vote for mayor of Toronto, as can a lifelong Quebecois who arrives here just before the election. But the woman with her four children enrolled at the neighbourhood school cannot vote for school trustee.
Makes little sense.
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