It is no exaggeration to say that, between the time I first entered the House of Commons in 1968 and my retirement nearly 40 years later, I witnessed a revolution in the makeup of Parliament.

In 1968, the House of Commons looked completely different than it did in 2006, let alone today. The typical Member of Parliament was white, male, and probably hailed from one of just a handful of professions and social backgrounds. If this sounds like hyperbole, consider that only a single woman — Grace MacInnes of the NDP — was a Member of Parliament between 1968 and 1972.

This failure at inclusion reflected poorly on Canada’s democratic institutions and political parties, but it also, more broadly, reflected a society that discriminated against women and racialized and Indigenous people across many aspects of both public and private life.

Great strides were made in subsequent decades thanks to the feminist movement and the tireless work of racialized activists and Indigenous leaders.

As a result, a more diverse array of voices began to enter Parliament — prompting a sea change not only in the backgrounds of our elected representatives but also in the kinds of policies they debated and ultimately acted upon. Canadian society has become fairer as a result.

Better representation in politics, after all, is hardly an abstract question or an isolated goal. It can surely be no accident, for example, that as the number of women and members of visible minorities in Parliament increased, Canada’s federal government also passed important legislation like the Employment Equity Act of 1986 — which requires employers to eliminate discriminatory barriers in the job market — alongside other policies that were long overdue.

There remains, however, much work to be done when it comes to making sure that Parliament actually looks like the country it exists to serve.

A recent survey conducted by the National Observer paints a mostly bleak picture of the efforts currently underway by Canada’s major political parties to improve the diversity of the House of Commons. As its author Fatima Syed noted: “Other than the NDP, the remaining parties are not representative of Canada’s visible minority population — Black, Indigenous or people of colour — which Statistics Canada finds amounts to at least 25 per cent.”

With 32 per cent of its candidates belonging to visible minorities, the NDP actually exceeds this number thanks to a roster that includes 20 Indigenous and 22 Black Canadians. By comparison, only 20 per cent of Liberal candidates and less than 18 per cent of those standing under the Conservative banner are visible minorities. With a mere 12 per cent of its candidates from racialized backgrounds, the Green Party lags behind even Maxime Bernier’s right-wing People’s Party. The NDP also boasts many candidates from working-class backgrounds and a slate that is 49 per cent women and 12 per cent LGBTQ.

In recent weeks, some commentators have tried to make hay over the NDP’s supposed slowness in nominating a full roster of candidates. But when it comes to fighting social, racial, and economic injustice, I believe that ensuring a diversity of backgrounds and lived experiences are represented in a federal election is an urgent political goal unto itself.

By running what is almost certainly the most diverse slate in Canadian history, Jagmeet Singh and the NDP have broken the mould and set a new standard for other parties to follow in future elections. But more importantly, Singh and his team are helping to lay the groundwork for a more inclusive, tolerant, and progressive country. Until the voices of those historically excluded and marginalized are properly represented in the House of Commons, the goal of a diverse and multicultural nation will remain elusive — as will moral imperatives such as meaningful reconciliation for indigenous peoples.

By way of their nomination processes, Canada’s political parties have a definitive role to play in bringing this goal about. Jagmeet Singh’s NDP has displayed important leadership that other parties would be well-advised to follow.

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Ed Broadbent is the former leader of the federal New Democratic Party and is the chair of the Broadbent Institute.

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