“The seed for the “Black Canadians in Electoral Politics” project was planted about a decade ago, when Tolley [Erin Tolley, the Canada Research Chair in Gender, Race, and Inclusive Politics at Carleton University] met Velma Morgan, the chair of Operation Black Vote Canada, a non-profit that advocates for Black participation in public office. Morgan asked Tolley why so few Canadian political scientists did research in this area and suggested they “do something about it”.
Three years ago, after securing a Partnership Engage Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, they got to work.
In addition to releasing the comprehensive “Black on the Ballot” report last month, rooted in dozens of interviews and the first-ever national survey of Black Canadians in politics, the collaboration has also yielded a trove of archival datasets and an engaging four-episode podcast hosted by Nana aba Duncan, Carleton’s Carty Chair in Journalism, Diversity and Inclusion Studies.”