Canadians come together each June to celebrate Pride Month, an international celebration of the progress the 2SLGBTQ+ community (Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning and additional sexual orientations and gender identities) has made towards achieving equality, and to fight for progress not yet made.
While Pride Month directly commemorates the Stonewall riots (which began in the early hours of June 28, 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village neighbourhood), it also acts as a time for Canadians to reflect on the rich and conflicted history our country has regarding 2SLGBTQ+ rights. For instance, Canada only decriminalized homosexual acts between consenting adults on June 27, 1969 (one day before the Stonewall Riots took place in New York).
Pride Month is also dedicated to uplifting and amplifying 2SLGBTQ+ voices, something First Past the Post is not very good at. While the 2021 federal election did deliver a record number of 2SLGBTQ+ MPs to parliament (eight in total — three Liberals, two NDP and two Conservatives), this proportionally amounts to only half the estimated 2SLGBTQ+ population nationwide. Could a switch to Proportional Representation make up the gap? Dennis Pilon, Associate Professor in the Department of Politics at York University believes so.
“Diverse representation in Canada fits the pattern for countries using single-member majoritarian voting systems [First Past the Post] in that advances for all [minority] groups have been slower and more uneven than in countries where proportional systems are the norm,” Pilon wrote in an article in ‘Queering Representation: LGBTQ People and Electoral Politics in Canada‘. “So, the short answer to the question of whether a different voting system might advance 2SLGBTQ+ representation in Canada would appear to be yes — if the new system were some form of proportional representation.”
This is in part due to the use of multi-member districts and quotas in proportional systems. In short, Proportional Representation (PR) allows for greater democracy as it is more likely to elect a Parliament that looks more like the country it represents. A good reminder that in both politics and our daily lives, representation is everything.
Democratic Reform in the News
Check out the latest on democracy and electoral reform from news sources in Canada and around the world:
- Lowering Voting Age to 16: “The Science Is Clear”
- Longest Ballot: Record 84 candidates in upcoming Toronto-St. Paul’s byelection
- From Crisis to Opportunity: How the City of Portland Embraced Democratic Innovation
Voters in 27 European countries just voted to elect Members of the European Parliament, all by proportional representation, as required by European law.
While parties on the far-right did gain seats compared to the last election (and that is what makes the news headlines), the parties in the centre continue to hold a majority.
