Last week, while Wab Kinew was making history as the first indigenous (known as First Nations) premier of a Canadian province, Uzoma Asagwara was also making history as the first female-born Nigerian-Canadian to become a deputy premier of a Canadian province. Both of them became the premier and deputy premier respectively of the Province of Manitoba.
Canada uses the name “premier” for the chief executives of its federating units like Nigeria did in the First Republic when it had regions run by premiers. Today while Canada still calls its federating units provinces, in 1979 Nigeria adopted the American example of calling its federating units “states” and calling the heads of those units “governors”.
The 41-year-old Kinew, a broadcaster and a rapper with two albums, was inaugurated as the 25th premier of Manitoba. He appointed 39-year-old Asagwara, a psychiatric nurse and retired basketballer, his deputy as well as the health minister for the province.
Canada practises a parliamentary system of government in which only elected parliamentarians can hold political positions. Therefore, to qualify to become the deputy premier, Asagwara was re-elected as a member of parliament of Manitoba’s Legislative Assembly on 3rd October, after joining two others to make history in 2019 as the first set of three Blacks to ever get elected into the Manitoba Legislature in the 150-year history of the province.
But Asagwara is not the first person of Nigerian descent that has held the post of deputy premier in Canada. That record belongs to Kelechi “Kaycee” Madu, who was the deputy premier of Alberta from October 2022 to June 2023. While Asagwara was born in Canada, Madu was born in southeastern Nigeria, grew up in Nigeria, studied in Nigeria and only relocated to Canada in 2005 when his wife went for further studies. However, 14 years after getting to Canada, he had already won an election into the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, becoming the first Nigerian-Canadian to achieve that feat. That same month of April in 2019, the premier appointed him Minister of Municipal Affairs for the province, which was also the first for a Nigerian-Canadian. In August 2020, Madu made history for Nigeria again when he was appointed the first Black minister of justice and solicitor-general for a province in Canada. In February 2022, he was made the Minister of Labour and Immigration. Then in October 2022, he was made the Deputy Premier and Minister of Skilled Trades and Professions.
However, the increasing embrace of multiculturalism and diversity in the political leadership of Canada is not only extended to Nigerian-Canadians. Canada is not only opening its borders to people from all parts of the world; it is earnestly preaching and promoting inclusiveness in all spheres and fighting against all the vestiges of discrimination in all shapes and forms. The message is sinking deeper into the citizens, leading to people being elected based on their competence and character rather than their race, age, gender, and the like.
For example, in the first week of this October, Liberal MP Greg Fergus made history by becoming Canada’s first Black Speaker of the House of Commons. His grandfather had immigrated to Canada from Montserrat, a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. Similarly, in October last year, Ken Sim made history as the first Chinese-Canadian to become the mayor of a Canadian city when he beat incumbent Kennedy Stewart to become the mayor of Vancouver in British Columbia. Also in June this year, Olivia Chow made history as she became the first Chinese-Canadian woman to be elected mayor of a Canadian city when she emerged the mayor of Toronto, Canada’s biggest city.
Among the top four parties of Canada, one of them is led by an Indian-Canadian. Jagmeet Singh, who is a turban-wearing Sikh, has been the leader of the New Democratic Party since 2017. Following his election, Singh emerged the first non-White Canadian to lead a major Canadian federal political party on a permanent basis. In March 2022, the NDP signed a “supply-and-confidence” agreement with the ruling Liberal Party, which entails that the NDP will align its votes with the government on vote of confidence and budgetary issues like budget implementation legislation and money bills. This voting commitment subsists until the tenure of the current parliament ends in 2025, during which time the Liberals will have presented four federal budgets.
In 2022, for the first time in the history of Canada, the country’s population grew by over one million people. International migration accounted for 95.9 per cent of that growth. While 437,180 were permanent residents, 607,782 were non-permanent residents.
Economic immigration programmes – comprising worker programmes, business programmes, the Provincial Nominee Programme and temporary resident to permanent resident programmes – contributed 58.5 per cent of all new Canadian permanent residents in 2022. Nigeria was among the top four countries that contributed to the source of these economic migrants. 118,095 immigrants came from India (27 per cent); 31,815 from China (7.2 per cent); 23,735 from Afghanistan (5.4 per cent); and 22,085 from Nigeria (5.05 per cent). The Philippines accounted for 22,070 immigrants (5.04 per cent), while France accounted for 14,145 immigrants (3.2 per cent). The other countries on the top ten were Pakistan (11,585), Iran (11,105), United States (10,400), and Syria (8,500).
Unlike in the distant past when Canada was more of a transit country for Nigerians seeking entry into the US, the tide has turned. Circumstances have made many people place Canada high on their list of preferred countries. These days, some people even use the US as their transit country into Canada. And unlike in the past when migrants were more inclined to move to Canadian big cities like Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver, the tide has also turned. According to figures from Statistics Canada, the country’s bureau in charge of statistics, the two fastest-growing cities in Canada in 2022 were Moncton and Halifax, all in the Atlantic provinces of Canada. Nigerians have a large community in these cities and other cities, and most of them are professionals from various fields who left Nigeria mainly because of insecurity.
The inroads made by some Nigerians into the Canadian political sphere should serve as a source of inspiration to these Nigerians who have relocated and others who will join them in the months ahead. It is true that every Nigerian professional who relocates to another country would be more concerned about career success, yet while pursuing the proverbial golden fleece, these Nigerian-Canadians should endeavour to participate in the politics of their community. Being politically aloof should not be an option, because those in politics take the decisions that affect everybody.
Luckily, unlike in Nigeria where most professionals shy away from politics because of the dirt and violence involved, the terrain is different in Western democracies. Politics in Western democracies is not a financial investment. It is service. One does not need the endorsement of any godfather or moneybags to excel in politics in Canada. One only needs interest, character, ideas and resilience.
While efforts are still on to turn around the politics in Nigeria and reclaim it from those who have vowed that Nigeria will not know progress, Nigerians abroad should get involved in the politics of their countries of residence. Who knows? They may be the agents of change that will facilitate the rescue of Nigeria from the political overlords that have held Nigeria down for decades.
Azuka, a columnist with The PUNCH, where this article was first published, can be reached on X: @BrandAzuka
