Ethnic minority political representation in Montreal

 

 

Canada's political and administrative institutions are presumed to reflect the increasingly multiethnic nature of Canadian society. 1996 Census data indicate that the ethnic origin of 26% of Canadians is neither French, British, Canadian nor Aboriginal. The country's demographic profile is also characterized by a very high concentration of immigrants-including visible minorities-in large metropolitan areas, with the highest concentrations in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.

Were Canadian political institutions representative of this diversity in 1999? In an effort to answer this question, this study will paint an ethnocultural portrait of officials elected at the federal, provincial and municipal levels for the Montreal census metropolitan area (CMA). The data used include information on the gender and political affiliation of these officials and are based on the results of the latest elections for the House of Commons (1997), and Quebec's National Assembly and Montreal's City Council (1998). Contrary to the systems in most European countries, Canadian citizenship can be obtained in a relatively short period of time, i.e. upon request after three consecutive years of residence here. It confers on immigrants equal legal and political rights, including the right to vote and to run for municipal, provincial or federal office, making their political participation that much easier. By contrast, the process of obtaining full citizenship is much longer and more complex in many European countries. Of course, there is the Council of Europe Convention on the Participation of Foreigners in Public Life at the Local Level, although few countries have ratified it.

The political representation of ethnic minority groups is part of a much larger issue related to the participation of ethnocultural groups and visible minorities in Canadian politics. The many research studies conducted since the 1970s demonstrate that there is very little difference between the political behaviour of members of these groups and that of the British and French majorities. Major barriers have also been identified within political parties, some of which are not very supportive of ethnic candidates. The participation of ethnic minorities as members of Canada's political elite represents a major challenge for the political system itself, with the composition of the system's representative bodies acting as a telling indicator of openness and sensitivity to ethnocultural diversity.

In representative democracies such as Canada, elected assemblies are expected to reflect the nation, with their composition mirroring the diversity of society as a whole. From a political standpoint, better statistical representation of immigrants can certainly make a difference when governments are establishing priorities or developing public policy. Of course, elected officials of ethnic minority origin will not necessarily defend the interests of the communities to which they belong. Such a statement would imply a link between political behaviour and ethnicity, which is not the aim of this study. However, it would be fair to say that the political interests of minority groups are better represented if the minority groups themselves are widely represented. In any case, the reverse is not necessarily true because immigrants can unintentionally represent a political force while being almost completely absent from representative authorities.

What kind of statistical portrait do the politicians elected in the Montreal CMA present? Does this portrait reflect the city's ethnocultural diversity? In the face of the vast issue of ethnic minority representation, is there reason to focus more specifically on visible minorities? Is there a link between the election of members of historically marginalized groups and the level at which they stand for election? Also, in light of their importance in Canada, do political parties have the same track record when it comes to electing ethnic minority politicians?

One of the objectives of this article is to identify the ethnocultural characteristics of recently elected politicians. This statistical portrait will continue with an analysis of the political behaviour of elected officials from ethnic minority groups, followed by an examination of their attitudes toward Canadian politics and the values to which they claim to adhere.

After a brief review of the current state of knowledge on ethnic minority representation, this document will present data on the ethnic origin of elected officials. An examination of the specific results for each level of government - federal, provincial and municipal -will provide possible answers to the above questions. Tables are also used to support any conclusions made.

State of knowledge

The political participation of various ethnic groups does not boil down to whether or not they are present in political institutions. This is nevertheless an important issue for researchers, who see it as an indicator - partial, of course - of their level of political integration. As Black and Lakhani explain, the fact that ethnic groups are part of the political elite is an indication of the opportunities that exist to access the corridors of power through the political system. Black and Lakhani also state that the presence of different ethnic groups in political institutions leads to a more adequate response to their political concerns.

In a review of studies on the participation of immigrants and enthocultural groups in Canadian politics, Stasiulis notes the growing number of specialized texts in this area. However, she also points out many gaps, in particular regarding the "political experience" of immigrants and cultural and visible minorities; cultural and structural barriers faced by ethnocultural minorities interested in participating in the political process; and the lack of recognition of the collective dimensions of migration and the processes of community affirmation.

Ethnic minority groups continue to be underrepresented today in relation to their proportions in Canadian society; nevertheless, the data compiled by Pelletier and Black and Lakhani indicate that their representation rates are constantly increasing.

Examining the role of ethnic and visible minorities in representative bodies is useful because an increasing number of people in Canada are of neither British, French, Canadian nor Aboriginal origin. The 1986 census indicated that this was the case for 23.7% of the population at large, while visible minorities accounted for 6.3% of the population. Ten years later, 26% of the general population were of another ethnic origin, including 11.21% under the category of visible minorities. The most recent Canadian census, held in 1996, included a question designed to gather information on visible minorities. In the past, this information was obtained derivatively, by cross-tabulating the questions on ethnic origin, place of birth and language. The results obtained in 1996 demonstrate that the number of visible minorities, in particular people of "Black" ethnic origin, was underestimated in preceding censuses. Since the 1970s, the face of immigration has changed enormously in Canada, especially since more immigrants come from South America and Central America, the Caribbean, Africa and Southeast Asia than from European countries. According to Statistics Canada, "over half the immigrant population who arrived since the 1970s, and three-quarters of those who came in the 1990s, are members of a visible minority group."

In most host countries, new arrivals choose to live in or close to major urban centres. In Canada, the number of people of neither British, French nor Aboriginal origin is highest in the greater Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal areas, with 56% in Toronto, 46% in Vancouver and 26% in Montreal. Most visible minorities (70%) also live in these three cities.

Immigration has radically changed the face of Canada, transforming the cultural and racial characteristics of the population. It has also altered the dynamic of large metropolitan areas, in particular on an economic and linguistic level, since the various ethnocultural communities settle there first. The integration of these communities occurs along trajectories that vary according to a series of indicators, chief among them ethnic origin, age, gender, education, length of residence and migratory movement. These factors also influence the political participation of ethnic minority groups. Because their numbers are increasing in the population at large and in major cities in particular, the issue of their participation in politics and their representation in democratic institutions is becoming a subject of great interest. Although an increase in the number of elected officials of ethnic origin would not necessarily translate into radical changes in public policy, it is nonetheless believed that ethnic communities would be, at least in theory, better able to ensure that their specific interests are recognized. The exploratory interviews conducted with city councillors from Montreal in the fall of 1999 highlight this situation.

Methodology

Results were compiled for the Montreal CMA only, with the help of the following tools: for the federal level, the 1997 Canadian Parliamentary Guide and the Government of Canada Web site; for the provincial level, the Dictionnaire parlementaire québécois (1992 edition), the 1997 Canadian Parliamentary Guide and the Government of Quebec Web site; and for the City of Montreal, biographical notes compiled by political parties, the City of Montreal Web site and the Montreal Jewish Public Library. If appropriate, we contacted the secretaries of the MNAs and municipal councillors.

We used two classification criteria to identify the ethnic origin of elected officials: their place of birth and the ethnic origin of their parents. For comparison purposes, we used 1996 data compiled by Statistics Canada for the Montreal CMA; only people who indicated one ethnic origin were counted, excluding people of multiple origins from the analysis. For the federal and provincial levels, we referred to ridings in the greater metropolitan area, which covers most of the CMA. There are 33 federal ridings and 44 provincial ridings.

Results analysis

1- Federal ridings in the Montreal CMA

The studies conducted on the House of Commons by the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism demonstrate that, between 1867 and 1964, only 97 members of Parliament (MPs) of non-British, non-French origin were elected. According to Manzer, until the mid-1960s, ethnic minority groups were increasingly underrepresented at the federal level. It was only in the 1970s that their growing presence in the Canadian population was reflected at a statistical level during elections. The Pelletier study shows an increase in the presence of ethnocultural groups in the House of Commons between 1965 and 1988, with their statistical representation growing from 9.4% to 16.3%. Most of these elected officials were men of European descent, from either the German, Jewish, Ukrainian or Italian communities. Ontario elected just under half of these officials, followed by Alberta, Quebec and British Columbia. The ethnic origins of visible minority MPs (0.0% in 1965 and 2.2% in 1988) is much more diverse, with the largest groups being Arab, Lebanese, Chinese and Black.

According to Black and Lakhani, the statistical representation of MPs in the 35th Parliament (1993) signals major progress by ethnic minority groups. Their study of the 1993 election, published in 1997, illustrates that ethnic minority representation stood at 24.7%, which corresponded to their incidence in the Canadian population at large (26%).

Our sample includes 33 ridings, or close to 40% of all federal ridings in Quebec. As indicated in Table 1, 26 (78.79%) federal MPs elected in the Montreal CMA are of British, French, Canadian or Aboriginal origin; 71.52% of Canadians and 87% of Quebecers have the same origins. In the Montreal CMA, the percentage is 74%.

 

 

Table 1 Distribution of federal MPs in the Montreal CMA by ethnic origin (33 ridings), 1997

	Number	%
Majority origins	26	78.79%
Minority origins	7	21.21%
*Visible minority origins	2	6.06%

*The minority origins category includes visible minorities.

There are 7 ethnic minority MPs, or 21.21% of all federal MPs for the Montreal CMA (see Tables 1 and 2). According to Black's data, which includes people of single and multiple origins, this percentage is lower than for all federal MPs in 1993 (24.7%) and for the Canadian population at large (26%). However, it is higher than the incidence of ethnic minority groups in Quebec, which at 13% is slightly lower than the 26% of people of neither British, French, Canadian nor Aboriginal origin in the Montreal CMA (Table 2).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 2 Distribution of ethnic minorities by population

The two visible minority MPs account for 6.06% of the total number of MPs. This is higher than the 4.4% Black and Lakhani found for the 1993 election, but is clearly lower than the incidence of visible minorities in the Canadian population at large (11.2%), in Quebec (6.2%) and in the Montreal CMA (13%).

Federal elected officials from visible minority groups account for 28.57% of those from ethnic minority groups (ratio of 2 to 7). This proporation is nearly 43.65% for the Canadian population at large, 44.26% for Quebec and 45.35% for the Montreal CMA. Pelletier's studies, as well as those by Black and Lakhani, demonstrate that federal MPs from visible minority groups continue to be underrepresented in light of their incidence in the population. Regardless of the comparison base used, our data confirm that, as the visible minority/ethnic minority ratio for the 1997 election indicates, visible minorities are underrepresented.

The following federal ridings in the Montreal CMA elected an ethnic minority MP: Ahuntsic, Vaudreuil-Soulanges, Mont-Royal, Laval Ouest, Saint-Léonard/Saint-Michel, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Lachine and Brossard/La Prairie. Two MPs are Jewish, two are Italian, one is Greek, one is Tunisian and one is Black.

Ethnic minority groups can influence election results according to their riding concentration. Ethnic minorities account for a large proportion of the electorate in many federal ridings. With regard to the ridings covered by this study, more than half of the population in four ridings is of ethnic origin, while the number varies between 20 and 49% in 15 others. More than one-fifth of the population in a total of 19 ridings out of 33 (55.57%) is of ethnic origin. With the exception of Vaudreuil-Soulanges, all of the federal ridings that elected an ethnic MP have an ethnic population greater than 20%. Ethnic minorities were elected in the two ridings with an ethnic population greater than 60%.

In the Montreal CMA, federal MPs from minority ethnic groups are far from equally represented within the two main parties (they were all elected as Liberals). Traditionally open to ethnic minorities, the Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) has seen 46 out of a total of 121 ethnic minority MPs elected between the mid-1960s and 1988. Only one Bloc québécois (BQ) MP from an ethnic minority group was elected in 1993, and in 1997 only one of 43 MPs was of neither British, French, Canadian nor Aboriginal origin (the MP was Belgian). It should be noted that the primary objective of the BQ, a federal party established only in Quebec, is Quebec sovereignty. Its sovereigntist ideology does not entirely explain its lack of openness to ethnic minorities. However, the BQ appears to be concerned more with defending the political interests of Quebecers of French origin, consequently alienating ethnic candidates. Kymlicka notes that the BQ possesses some of the characteristics of ethnic parties, whose support is almost overwhelmingly founded on ethnic characteristics (in this case, Quebecers with French ancestry).

Pelletier and Black note that women continue to be underrepresented at the federal level. Data for the Montreal CMA illustrate that women are underrepresented in relation to their incidence in the population. However, our results indicate that more minority women were elected than minority men. For federal ridings in the Montreal CMA, there are 22 (66%) men and 11 (33%) women; of the 26 MPs of British, French, Canadian or Aboriginal origin, 19 (73%) are men and seven (27%) are women. With regard to ethnic minority MPs, there are more women (four or 57%) than men (three or 43%), while there is one male and one female visible minority MP.

An equal number of men and women were elected as Liberals and Bloquistes. However, all ethnic or visible minority women are LPC members, and the situation for men is scarcely better. In fact, the BQ is represented in Montreal exclusively by members of the Francophone majority (Table 3).

Table 3 Distribution of federal MPs by ethnic origin and party. Montreal CMA, 1997

LPC	M	W	BQ	M	W
Majority origins	9	2	Majority origins	10	5
Minority origins	3	4	Minority origins	0	0
* Visible minority origins	1	1	* Visible minority origins	0	0
Total	12	6	Total	10	5

*The minority origins category includes visible minorities.

LPC = Liberal Party of Canada (federalist) BQ = Bloc québécois (sovereigntist)

2- Provincial ridings in the Montreal CMA

Although a fair number of studies on ethnic minority representation have been conducted at the federal level, the same cannot be said for the provinces, where there are major gaps; the participation of ethnocultural minorities in Quebec's political elite has yet to be studied in a systematic manner. However, a few studies exist on the voter participation of certain communities, such as the Jewish community in Quebec and the South Asian community in Vancouver.

Our sample comprises 44 ridings, or 35.2% of the total number of provincial ridings in Quebec. As indicated in Table 4, 86.36% (38) of the members of the National Assembly (MNAs) in the Montreal CMA are of British, French, Canadian or Aboriginal origin. Eighty-seven percent of all Quebecers are of one of these origins, compared with 74% of the total population in the Montreal CMA.

Table 4 Distribution of MNAs in the Montreal CMA by ethnic origin (44 ridings), 1998

	Number	%
Majority origins	38	86.36%
Minority origins	6	13.63%
*Visible minority origins	1	2.27%

*The minority origins category includes visible minorities.

There are six MNAs with minority origins, representing 13.63% of all MNAs (21.21% at the federal level). In Quebec, 13% of the population is of ethnic minority origin, compared with 26% of the population in the Montreal CMA (Table 5).

Table 5 Distribution of ethnic minorities by population

There is only one visible minority MNA, or 2.27% of the total number of MNAs. In Quebec, 6.2% of the population are visible minorities; the figure for the Montreal CMA is 13%. Visible minority MNAs account for 16% of all ethnic minority MNAs, compared with 44.26% for Quebec and 45.35% for the Montreal CMA. This percentage illustrates that visible minorities are underrepresented in the provincial government.

The following provincial ridings elected an ethnic minority MNA: D'Arcy-McGee, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Viau, Fabre, Viger and Laurier-Dorion. Two MNAs are Jewish, two are Italian, one is Greek and one is Uruguayan.

The data compiled by the Direction générale des élections du Québec [Quebec elections office] on Quebec ridings is not exhaustive. For example, information taken from the 1991 census does not indicate the composition of the ethnic population in six Montreal CMA ridings. This is all the more regrettable because four of the six ridings (D'Arcy-McGee, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Viau and Viger) each have an ethnic minority MNA, and at least three of these four have a large ethnic minority population.

In light of these limitations, more than half of the population in eight ridings is of ethnic minority origin, while the percentage varies between 20 and 49% for 14 others. More than one-fifth of the population in a total of 22 out of 38 ridings, or 57.89%, is of ethnic minority origin, while only one riding, Laurier-Dorion, elected an ethnic minority candidate. These results certainly do not correspond to reality because at least three out of the four ridings that elected an ethnic candidate and for which we have no data have an ethnic minority population greater than 20%. If such is the case, actually four of the six ridings that elected an ethnic candidate have an ethnic population greater than 20%.

As is the case at the federal level, the ethnic minority MNAs elected in the Montreal CMA are not distributed equally between the two provincial parties. With the exception of the Fabre MNA, who is a member of the Parti québécois (PQ), all of the other MNAs (83%) are Liberals. Based on this indicator alone, it can only be concluded that the PQ is unsympathetic to historically marginalized ethnic groups. Certain unfortunate statements have also done nothing to ease tensions between the PQ and ethnocultural communities, who are still reeling from the comments made by then premier Jacques Parizeau, a member of the PQ, on the night of the 1995 referendum on Quebec independence; following the announcement of the close results, Mr. Parizeau blamed "money and the ethnic vote" for the defeat of the sovereigntist camp. The PQ's main objective is to secede from the rest of Canada, an initiative that most cultural community members do not support. One of the repercussions of the almost complete absence of ethnic minority groups from representative bodies is without a doubt the increased alienation of these groups from the PQ's autonomy initiative.

With regard to the distribution of men and women, women are even more underrepresented at the provincial level than at the federal level, with 34 men (77%) and 10 women (23%). Of the 38 MNAs of British, French, Canadian or Aboriginal origin, 28 are men and 10 are women. All six ethnic minority and visible minority MNAs are men.

Compared with four (16.67%) for the Liberal Party of Quebec (LPQ), the PQ, at six (30%), has the highest number of women MNAs in the Montreal CMA. However, in contrast to the federal government, where more women than men from ethnocultural minorities were elected as MPs, none of the members of either the PQ or the LPQ are women from minority groups (Table 6).

Table 6 Distribution of MNAs by ethnic origin and party. Montreal CMA, 1998.

LPQ	M	W	PQ	M	W
Majority origins	15	4	Majority origins	13	6
Minority origins	5	0	Minority origins	1	0
*Visible minority origins	0	0	*Visible minority origins	1	0
Total	20	4	Total	14	6

*The minority origins category includes visible minorities.

LPQ = Liberal Party of Quebec (federalist) PQ = Parti québécois (sovereigntist)

3- City of Montreal electoral districts

Election studies demonstrate that the municipal level is more easily accessible to members of marginalized groups than the federal and provincial levels. The two explanations most often cited for this situation are: 1) since political parties are smaller at the municipal level, structural impediments are limited; and 2) less money is spent during election campaigns at the municipal level than at the other two levels. However, ethnic minority candidates must overcome certain difficulties during elections, including, as Stasiulis mentions, "hostile lobby groups and political parties at the local level, histories of minority exclusion, and the tenacity of negative stereotypes denigrating visible minority and recent immigrant groups."

It was not until the 1960s that ethnic minority candidates from the Jewish and Italian communities were elected to Montreal City Council. The early 1970s saw a relative increase in the number of ethnocultural elected officials, and beginning in the late 1980s, electoral districts with a high concentration of minority groups were often represented by a councillor from these communities. One of the candidates during the 1998 election was a woman from the Hassidic Jewish minority, a first in Montreal.

This analysis focuses on all 51 City of Montreal electoral districts. According to the figures in Table 7, 36 councillors (70.58%) are of British, French, Canadian or Aboriginal origin, compared with 57% of the entire population of Montreal. The 15 ethnic minority elected officials account for 29.42% of all of the councillors, while 43% of the people living in Montreal belong to ethnocultural communities (Table 7).

Table 7 Distribution of City of Montreal municipal councillors by ethnic origin, 1998

	Number	%
Majority origins	36	70.58%
Minority origins	15	29.42%
*Visible minority origins	4	7.80%

*The minority origins category includes visible minorities.

The four visible minority councillors account for less than 8% of all of the councillors, whereas one-fifth of Montreal citizens are visible minorities. Visible minority elected officials account for 26.66% of the ethnic minority elected officials, compared with 58% for the entire city (Table 8).

 

 

 

Table 8 Distribution of City of Montreal population by ethnic origin, 1996

The following municipal districts elected an ethnic minority councillor: Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Marie-Victorin, Ahuntsic, Décarie, Marc-Aurèle Fortin, Parc Extension, l'Acadie, Saint-Jacques, Mile End, Jarry, Snowdon, Saint-Michel, François-Perreault, Peter-McGill and Victoria. Five councillors are Italian, four are Jewish, two are Armenian, one is Greek, one is Russian, one is Haitian and one is Black.

A large proportion of electoral districts in Montreal have a high ethnic concentration. More than half of the population in 20 districts is of ethnic origin, while this number varies between 20 and 49% in 18 others. More than one-fifth of the population in a total of 38 out of 51 districts (74.50%) is of ethnic origin. All of the ethnic councillors were elected in districts where more than one-fifth of the population is of ethnic origin; 12 of the 15 minority councillors (80%) represent districts where more than half of the population is of ethnic origin.

Ethnic minorities are also not equally represented within municipal political parties (Table 9). Vision Montreal, the party in power, has the most ethnocultural councillors (11 out of 15 or 73%). Two councillors were elected under Équipe Montréal [team Montreal], one under Nouveau Montréal [new Montreal] and one under the Coalition démocratique Montréal [Montreal democratic coalition]. All three councillors elected under Équipe Montréal and the Coalition démocratique Montréal are ethnic minorities. The Rassemblement des citoyens de Montréal (RCM) [Montreal citizens movement] is the only party without an elected official from a cultural community. The four visible minority councillors, all women, are members of Vision Montréal (the party in power).

Table 9 Distribution of Montreal municipal councillors by ethnic origin and party, 1998

Vison Montréal			Équipe Montréal		Nouveau Montréal
	M	W	M	W	M	W
Majority origins	22	6	0	0	2	0
Minority origins	6	5	1	1	1	0
*Visible minority origins	0	4	0	0	0	0
Total	28	11	1	1	3	0

Coalition démocratique Montréal			Rassemblement des citoyens de Montréal		Independent
	M	W	M	W	M	W
Majority origins	0	0	3	1	2	0
Minority origins	1	0	0	0	0	0
*Visible minority origins	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	1	0	3	1	2	0

*The minority origins category includes visible minorities.

A total of 71.80% of Vision Montréal's councillors are of French, British, Canadian or Aboriginal origin, while 28.20% are from ethnocultural groups. These figures roughly correspond to those for the entire City Council.

Women continue to be underrepresented on the municipal scene in Montreal. There are 38 (74.5%) male elected officials and 13 (25.5%) female elected officials. As is the case at the provincial level, the proportion of men and women at the municipal level varies from party to party. Vision Montréal, the party in power, has 11 women (28.21%), while the RCM and Équipe Montréal each have one (25% and 50% respectively). No women were elected under any of the other parties.

Continuing with Vision Montréal, 22 men (78.57%) and six women (54.54%) are of French, British, Canadian or Aboriginal origin, while six men (21.42%) and five women (45.45%) are ethnic minorities. All of Vision Montréal's visible minority councillors are women, accounting for 36.36% of all women elected under Vision Montréal, 30.67% of all women elected at the municipal level and 66% of all ethnic minority women elected. A few years will be needed before the spectacular progress made by visible minority women in terms of their participation in the political elite can be confirmed. For the time being, however, we would like to recognize the remarkable inroads made by these women during the 1998 municipal election.

With regard to the other parties, one woman was elected under the RCM and another under Équipe Montréal, representing one-quarter of the total number of officials elected in the former and half of the total number in the latter.

A few comparisons

Twenty-eight elected officials in the Montreal CMA are ethnic minorities, accounting for 21.87% of all elected officials at all three levels of government, 53.57% at the municipal level, 21.42% at the provincial level and 25% at the federal level.

The percentage of ethnocultural elected officials is highest at the municipal level, with 15 people or 29.41% of all elected officials. Second place goes to the federal government, with seven people or 21.21%, leaving the provincial government in third place with six people or 13.63%. The percentage of visible minority elected officials is also higher at the municipal level, at 7.8%, compared with 6.06% at the federal level and 2.27% at the provincial level (Table 10).

Table 10 Distribution of ethnic minority elected officials by level of government*

Thirty-four (26.56%) of all elected officials are women, ten (29.41%) of whom are from minority groups, which is a very positive result. The proportion of men is lower, at 18.08%.

The percentage of women elected officials from ethnic minority groups is slightly higher at the federal level (12.12%), compared with 11.76% at the municipal level and none at the provincial level.

Table 11 Ethnic minority and visible minority representation by party*

A comparison of political parties (Table 11) indicates that the percentage of ethnic elected officials is highest among the third parties at the municipal level, including all Coalition démocratique Montréal officials (one), all Équipe Montréal officials (two) and one-third of Nouveau Montréal officials (one). Next comes the LPC with 38.89% ethnic minority officials (seven out of 18), followed by Vision Montréal with 28.21% (11 out of 39), the LPQ with 20.83% (five out of 24) and the Parti québécois with 5.00% (one out of 20). The Bloc québécois is in last place with no ethnic minorities. With regard to visible minorities, the parties are ranked as follows: LPC (11.11% or two people), Vision Montréal (10.25% or four people) and the PQ (5% or one person). None of the other parties (BQ, LPQ, RCM, Nouveau Montréal, Équipe Montréal and Coalition démocratique Montréal) has any visible minority elected officials.

The ethnic origins of the 28 ethnic minority elected officials far from reflect the ethnocultural diversity of the population of Canada or the Montreal CMA, as the following data on the ethnic composition of these officials attests:

• Italian community: nine people (32.14%), two at the federal level, two at the provincial level and five at the municipal level (no women);
• Jewish community: eight people (28.57%), two at the federal level, two at the provincial level and four at the municipal level (including two women);

- Greek community: three people (10.71%), one at the federal level, one at the provincial level and one at the municipal level (including two women);

- Armenian community: two people (7.14%), both at the municipal level (two women);

- Russian community: one person at the municipal level (3.57%) (a woman);

- Haitian community: one person at the municipal level (3.57%) (a woman);

- Black community: two people (7.14%), one at the federal level and one at the municipal level (both women);

- Arab community: one person at the federal level (3.57%); and

- Latin American community: one person at the provincial level (3.57%).

Total: 10 women (35.71%) and 18 men (64.28%).

Of a total of 28 people, 21 (75%) are of European ancestry, including 16 men and five women, and seven (25%) are visible minorities, including five women representing 71.42% of all elected visible minorities. Although the Jewish and Italian communities have been established in Quebec for a very long time, no Italian women and only two Jewish women have been elected. However, the Greek, Armenian, Russian, Black and Haitian communities each have a large representation of women, although the number of elected officials is insignificant. In his studies, Black notes the remarkable progress made by women of minority ancestry regarding their participation in the political elite. Our data for the Montreal CMA indicate that the success rate of minority women is higher than that of women with majority origins. Subsequent studies should focus on explaining this difference by correlating the gender and minority ethnic origin of candidates.

The ethnic communities involved in the political elite do not have the same electoral influence as each other, and their numbers hardly reflect the ethnic diversity of the population of Quebec (Table 12). In reality, two of these groups, the Jewish and Italian communities, have succeeded in electing 17 (60%) of all 28 ethnic minority officials. Their concentration is very high in Quebec and, since many of their members (more than two out of every three) moved to Canada before 1967, they have developed well-organized political networks that support them when they are seeking nomination within a political party or participating in an election campaign as a candidate. Well-established at the community level, the Jewish and Italian communities are part of the Canadian political scene, as their strong interest in parliamentary life attests.

Table 12 - Distribution of ethnic minority elected officials by community of origin

Community of origin	Number of elected officials	Percentage of elected officials	In relation to Montreal CMA population
Italian	9	32.1%	4.8%
Jewish	8	28.6%	1.8%
Greek	3	10.7%	1.4%
Armenian	2	7.1%	0.4%
Black	2	7.1%	0.1%
Russian	1	3.6%	0.2%
Haitian	1	3.6%	1.9%
Arab	1	3.6%	2.1%
Latin American	1	3.6%	0.2%
	28	100.0%	12.8%

Most visible minorities arrived during the 1970s. Although this does not explain everything, it enables us to understand why they are so poorly represented compared with groups of European ancestry. Seven (25%) of the 28 ethnic minority officials are visible minorities; however, they have very diverse origins, ranging from Haitian and Black (three) to Arab, Latin American and Armenian (four). Finally, the lack of elected officials of Chinese, Southeast Asian or South Asian origin should be noted. The concentration of immigrants from Southeast Asia and South Asia is certainly not very high in Quebec; however, the number of people of Chinese origin is almost equal to the number of people of Greek origin.

The fact that certain groups are not represented in political bodies can be explained by a series of factors, including the migratory movement of the communities in question (for example, boat people), their language skills and certain aspects of their political socialization in the host country. Only through an in-depth study of this phenomenon will we be able to measure its scope and understand its complexity.

Conclusion

This statistical portrait has enabled us to present new data regarding the political representation of ethnocultural communities and visible minorities in the Greater Montreal Area. Since most of the studies on the political representation of ethnic and visible minorities focus on federal politics, it fills some of the gaps that exist in the study of the numerical representation of these groups.

This portrait demonstrates that ethnocultural groups still do not carry the political weight they should in light of their incidence in the populations of both Canada and Quebec. Progress has certainly been made since the 1970s, the gap between their incidence in the population and their presence in political bodies having narrowed. Also, the communities best represented within the political elite are of European ancestry and have been established in Quebec for a number of generations. The relative lack of visible minorities in representative bodies is no doubt due to their more recent arrival in Canada. The same phenomenon can be seen in the greater Toronto and Vancouver areas. However, visible minorities appear to face more difficulties than people from other minority groups when seeking nomination within a political party, fund-raising or participating in an election campaign as a candidate. In addition, in light of the current state of research in this area, it is still very difficult to pinpoint the obstacles that exist within the political system or that are related to the characteristics of ethnocultural communities themselves. Also, very little is known about the specific limitations people from these groups must overcome when dealing with the electorate (e.g. prejudices, stereotypes and discrimination).

The issue of the political representation of ethnocultural groups is just as important for Canadian society as a whole as it is for the ethnocultural communities themselves. The participation of migrants in Canadian politics is facilitated by a system that grants the right to vote and to run for office to anyone with Canadian citizenship, which can be obtained after three years of residence. Although Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal continue to take in a large number of immigrants, an increasing number of average-sized cities are faced with ethnic diversity. In this context, there is a very strong need to redefine immigrants' place in Canadian society and to take into account their particular methods of exercising power. The participation of immigrants in the political and decision-making process enables them to take part in political decisions that affect ethnocultural communities in various social, economic and cultural areas. This does not necessarily mean that their political interests will be best served in all cases. However, it can be logically assumed that the increased presence of ethnocultural communities in the political arena will have a basic qualitative impact on the course of public politics.

Once again, an increase in the representation of immigrants in parliamentary institutions is not an end in itself. However, the somewhat marked absence of certain communities in representative and parliamentary bodies undoubtedly enables us to understand the frustration expressed by certain community leaders when they discuss their political marginalization. Justified or not, their frustration is very real, highlighting, among other things, the major gaps in the structure of political opportunities within both political parties and the bodies of the state. Available studies do not indicate with any certainty whether improved political representation of ethnocultural communities constitutes a definitive response to the many integration problems they face. Nevertheless, this issue is of the utmost importance for the future of democracy. It is likely that ethnic minority groups will represent a numerical majority in the very near future (if they do not already), particularly in major Canadian urban centres where an increasing number of ridings have a high ethnic concentration. Without supporting total ethnocultural parity in all political structures (referred to by some as the mirror effect), there is good reason for us to question the pertinence of adopting and implementing measures designed to make political institutions more representative of a Canadian society that is becoming increasingly diversified from an ethnocultural standpoint. In this respect, the 1988 Canadian Multiculturalism Act recognizes the importance of enabling individuals of all origins and their communities to participate fully in the social, economic and political aspects of Canadian society. The focus in Quebec is on "the full participation of immigrants and Quebecers from cultural communities in the economic, social, cultural and institutional aspects of Quebec society."

Curiously enough, despite a sizeable increase in the number of studies on the political participation and representation of minority ethnocultural groups, there are still some major questions that remain unanswered. Although the political representation of ethnic minority groups is increasing, this increase is not having the impact that was expected on government priorities and public policy, among other things. The substantive representation (as opposed to statistical or numerical representation) of ethnocultural groups has yet to be studied in-depth. In this connection, ethnic relations and the political repercussions of the growing presence in elective office of members of groups traditionally excluded from power represent a vast area for researchers to study. It is hoped that, in coming years, a significant number of these researchers will focus their efforts on this issue.

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