Ethnic media aim to help maintain boost in voting by new Canadians

Zuhair Alshaer spends most of his day editing articles and organizing interviews with politicians for his Ottawa-based Arab Canada newspaper, to introduce Arabic-speaking new Canadians to federal politics.

The community Alshaer's paper serves is growing — more immigrants are arriving in Canada from Africa, Asia and the Middle East than ever before, surpassing Europe that was once the dominant source.

And it is also becoming more politically engaged: The voting rate of immigrant from West Central Asia and the Middle East increased to 73 per cent in the 2015 election from the 57 per cent recorded four years earlier, the largest increase among the 10 immigrant regions studied by Statistics Canada.

For Alshaer, and other ethnic media outlets, all his efforts are aimed at helping Arabic-speaking new Canadians kick isolation and get involved in politics.

"We're trying to encourage our audience to integrate," he said. "We show them how important is to participate in politics."

Research published by Statistics Canada in 2016 highlighted that new Canadians made up about one-fifth of the voting population. Their numbers are likely to increase in the coming years: Statistics Canada projects the proportion of foreign-born individuals who immigrated to Canada could reach between 25 per cent and 30 per cent by 2036.

Alshaer, a Palestinian immigrant who came to Canada 20 years ago, is hoping that his monthly newspaper, launched three years ago, will connect his community with federal politics, so more people cast a ballot on Oct. 21.

"We should believe that Canada is our country and behave accordingly," he said.

The most recent issue of his newspaper, published earlier this month, included an op-ed signed by Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, and an extended interview with Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre, who are seeking re-election in their respective Ottawa-area seats.

"We worked on building trust between our audience and the politicians and candidates," said Alshaer, the paper's editor-in-chief. "We don't have any affiliation with any candidate or political party."

But newcomers from countries with no established democratic traditions is an obstacle that makes participating in Canadian politics more challenging. Research has also shown that lower-income individuals — a group that includes newcomers — may not see voting as a priority for because they are more focused on more immediate concerns, adding another obstacle.

"A lot of newcomers, in the first few years, are facing tremendous anxiety and challenges when it comes to economic and social integration," said Liberal MP Omar Alghabra, who was born in Saudi Arabia to a Syrian family and immigrated to Canada about 30 years ago.

Statistics Canada data show that turnout rates for established immigrants, defined as those who lived in the country for at least 10 years, was a few points higher in 2015 than recent immigrants.

Overall, turnout rates were up by 14.4 percentage points in 2015 compared to the 2011 election, Statistics Canada said, with above-average increases recorded for newcomers from West Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Getting used to the idea of voting "takes a few years for newcomers to wrap their heads around it," Algabra said. He added it was important to explain to new Canadians that the outcomes of the election "will have an immediate impact on their lives" and each outcome could mean different things to different people.

A few of the volunteers with Algabra's re-election campaign are newcomers. Some don't even have their permanent residency or citizenship, but are "excited about living in a country with a society that encourages participation and democratic practices," Algabra said.

"I've also seen a group of newcomers who are extremely excited about earning their Canadian citizenship," Alghabra said. "They are really keen on not only voting, but also participating in democratic process."