Indian-origin healthcare worker Navjit Kaur Brar from Brampton in Canada on Thursday, 27 October, become the first turban-wearing Sikh woman to be elected as a city counsellor.
A respiratory therapist, 36-year-old Brar won the municipal council polls to become Brampton City Councillor.
“Getting elected as a Brampton city councillor in the same week as Respiratory Therapy Week is a blessing,” she said.
She beat former Brampton West Conservative MP candidate Jermaine Chambers and secured 28.85 percent of the casted votes, while Chambers received 22.59 percent, according to the Brampton Guardian.
A political novice, Brar said: I think a lot of people can relate to me. I'm just a respiratory therapist. I've actually worked with a lot of people. I'm a mom of three and a lot of people in Brampton are families."
Early Life and Healthcare Career
Navjit Kaur Brar’s parents left Punjab and moved to Canada in the 1980s. She was born and brought up in Brampton city.
Brar went on to receive a Bachelor’s in Science from the University of Toronto and further received her Respiratory Therapist (RT) diploma from Canadore College in North Bay, Ontario.
A front-line healthcare worker during the COVID pandemic, her medical career kicked off as an RT at Ontario’s Lincare Inc in 2011. Subsequently, she went on to join the William Osler Health System in 2013 and begun working at Brampton Civic Hospital.
According to She The People, she is a mother of three children, including two girls and a boy.
Political Beginnings
While Brar previously ran as the Ontario National Democratic Party candidate from Brampton West, losing out to incumbent Progressive Conservative Amarjot Sandhu, she has little experience in politics.
As a part of her campaign, she spoke to over 22,500 residents of Brampton over the last two months, knocking on over 40,000 doors.
“Over the past 3 years, I’ve spoken to countless Bramptonians and the sentiment I hear is that they are all hurting, they feel unheard, they feel left behind. With the rising cost of living It’s getting harder to raise and provide for your family in Brampton… As your city councillor, I will fight for better services for all Bramptonians and ensure that your voices are heard.”Navjit Kaur Brar in her campaign pitch.
She said that she planned to work hard and represent every demographic in her ward. Her main concerns included construction of new infrastructure, reduced crime rates and improved traffic safety.
Her three pronged campaign included anti-crime measures such as a neighbourhood watch program and a specific focus on “fighting the increasing number of auto-mobile threats.”
She also proposed building a full-fledged university in Brampton and also to “bring a new hospital to the city.”
Before the result announcement, she said:
“I'm excited. I'm so proud of all Bramptonians who have voted, making sure our voices are being heard more than ever before,” she said before the announcement.
Abysmal Voter Turnout
During the Brampton civic elections, as many as 40 Punjabis were in the fray and only 87,155 of the 354,884 eligible voters - a terribly low 24.5 percent - turned up for polling.
The abysmal voter turnout can be atrributed to the election date overlapping with Diwali, one of the most awaited Indian festivals celebrated by the diaspora in Canada.
Several members of the Indo-Canadian community, along with many councillor candidates, had raised concerns about the overlap.
However, as a mandate elections for municipal governments are held every four years on the fourth Monday of October and took pave on 24 October this year.
(With inputs from Brampton Guardian and She The People.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)