Devine qui s’invite aux élections cette année ! Les minorités visibles et leur représentation politique en Ontario et en Colombie-Britannique (Canada)

Abstract

This article deals with the level of political representation of ethnoracial minority groups in the legislative assemblies of Ontario and British Columbia. It aims at evaluating several theories on the level of political representation of ethnoracial minorities on the one hand, and on the difference between the levels of political representation of these groups on the other hand. One of its main inputs is theoretical. First, it introduces a complexification of the residential concentration theory and, above all of the premise of ethnic affinity by suggesting that a distinction should be made between two concepts: on the one hand centripetal ethnic affinity and, on the other hand, transversal ethnic affinity. The first concept deals with emotional tendencies – expressed by concrete acts – of members of an ethnic group to answer favorably to the incitement of individuals (As) who have the same ethnic identity than them (the As), against individuals of a different ethnicity (the Bs). Moreover, the concept of transversal ethnic affinity is of foremost importance here, as we talk about the political dynamism of pluriethnic societies where the distinction between majority and minority is far from enlightening, as each of these entities is composite, including indeed several ethnic groups whose interests converge as much as they differ according to the situations. This concept also draws its usefulness from the opportunity it offers to measure the meaning within the political space of the dichotomy between ‘white majority group’ and ‘racialized minority.’ On the methodological side, this article proceeds from the complete counting of legislative elections’ results that took place in 2018 in Ontario and 2017 in British Columbia, according to two main criteria: a) the ethnoracial identification of elected candidates, and b) the ethnic distribution of the population living in the electoral districts that elected a member of an ethnoracial minority.