Mary Chan explains the ballots and registration forms as new immigrants prepare to vote Oct. 14.
For democracy to work, it is essential that people exercise their right to vote. For new immigrants, however, the electoral process can be intimidating. To that end, new Canadian seniors pack a room at the Chinese Community Service Centre, eager to learn about the Canadian electoral process.
May Chan, a settlement counsellor at the centre, teaches English as a second language through a Language Instruction for Newcomers program. Chan says she wanted to meet a need within the community by providing these students with the vocabulary and information they would encounter at election time.
Family counsellor Rupert Yeung explains that most of the newcomers at the centre come from China, “where there is a one party state and no free elections, so the Chinese government actually discourages people from knowing too much about politics.”
Yeung says this is why Chinese seniors, when they arrive in Canada, won't discuss politics and don’t understand democracy.
Wendy Tang, another settlement counsellor, says the mandate of the centre is to “help newcomers integrate into Canadian society.” She says that holding a class which specifically focuses on the election helps to achieve that.
Chan’s handouts for the students explain the purpose of a voter information card and the alternative forms of identification accepted at polling stations.
Step by step, she walks the students through the election process, from arrival at the polling station to casting their votes. In so doing, Chan teaches new election vocabulary and pronunciation, to familiarize potential voters before the election.
She hopes to develop a sense of comfort in the election process and believes it will create greater confidence in new immigrants in exercising their voting rights.
Henry Yu immigrated to Canada in 2002 from Hong Kong. He has attended computer classes at the centre, but wanted to attend this class specifically to “learn how to elect people into Parliament.”
Yu says he found the class helpful as this is the first time he will be voting in Canada. Yu says he believes voting is important because “we depend on the members of the House.”