The next provincial government is hopefully going to lead us to the other side of the pandemic. But are parties bringing an anti-Black racism lens to their policy commitments? Velma Morgan of Operation Black Vote Canada joins us to talk about why it matters to bring party hopefuls to Black communities to hear issues directly, and why all nonprofits need to get political. Guest biography: Velma Morgan has experience in creating and implementing public policies and programs in the Ontario provincial government. For over 10 years she advised Cabinet Ministers in 5 Ministries. Her comprehensive knowledge of government and public policy processes allows her to quickly decipher and analyze complex issues and positively contribute to a solution. As an advocate for gender and cultural representation and inclusion in government, she ensured that the voices of marginalized communities were reflected in the government's policies and communications.
The next provincial government is hopefully going to lead us to the other side of the pandemic. But are parties bringing an anti-Black racism lens to their policy commitments? Velma Morgan of Operation Black Vote Canada joins us to talk about why it matters to bring party hopefuls to Black communities to hear issues directly, and why all nonprofits need to get political.
Guest biography: Velma Morgan has experience in creating and implementing public policies and programs in the Ontario provincial government. For over 10 years she advised Cabinet Ministers in 5 Ministries. Her comprehensive knowledge of government and public policy processes allows her to quickly decipher and analyze complex issues and positively contribute to a solution. As an advocate for gender and cultural representation and inclusion in government, she ensured that the voices of marginalized communities were reflected in the government's policies and communications.
This transcript has been edited slightly for clarity.
Velma Morgan: We have to engage government. If we don't engage government, government thinks that we don't care or that they could just make decisions on our behalf.
Sarah: Velma morgan is the Chair of Operation Black Vote Canada. There, she's created the first-ever Black community provincial leaders debate, with the 2022 debate held just a few weeks ago. In her career, she's worked for Cabinet Ministers and five Ontario ministries where she worked to strengthen collaborative ties between racialized communities, youth, and government in new and innovative ways.
In this provincial election she's working alongside a group of nonprofits to bring issues impacting Black communities and ensure they're front and center for party leaders and candidates.
Velma Morgan: Some may say we are concerned about those issues like everybody else, but because of systemic racism, those issues and those policies treat us differently, and we want politicians to realize that when you're creating policy, you need to really see policy through an anti-Black racism lens to ensure that we are not adversely affected by these policies that are created today.
Sarah: She joins us to share. About how she's doing that
This June 2nd, Ontarians will vote on who will form our next provincial government. Velma's work with operation Black Vote Canada is just one example of the amazing collective advocacy being done by nonprofits across the Ontario nonprofit sector. In the last episode, we spoke with Tim Gray from Environmental Defense, if you haven't listened to that episode yet, please check it out. And we're excited to share another story around election advocacy today and we welcome Velma Morgan.
Music Break
Well, welcome to the podcast, Velma. It's great to have you here. And I'm really excited for our conversation today. Could you take a moment to introduce yourself and tell us a bit about Operation Black Vote Canada?
Velma Morgan: My name is Velma Morgan, and I'm the Chair of Operation Black Vote Canada. Our goal is to assist in the election of more Black elected officials at all three levels of government and to help our communities become more civically engaged.
Sarah: With this election, why is it important for operation Black Vote Canada to be engaged?
Velma Morgan: It's important for us to be engaged more for our communities. So people who wanted to rank and understand the process for their particular party, cause each party is slightly different, on how to get the nomination process. So we did a series of those and then we also wrote all provincial leaders asking them to do a couple of things. One to nominate or ensure that there's a nomination of Black Canadians of Black Ontarians in winnable ridings for their particular party. It's not good enough for you to say we ran a Black woman, check, in a riding.
We also, in that letter, asked them to provide supports for Black candidates in terms of helping with fundraising, helping with resources, and that the leader should treat that riding as they do other ridings in terms of going in and doing visits and doing tours and having events in that particular riding. Because that does boost candidates' profile and their ability to get the word out in their particular riding.
So that was just one element. That's because we want to have more Black elected officials and the provincial in all four parties. So that was the first part. Then we started the second part, which is engagement of our community. So now that we have the nominations, election started, we want to make sure that our community understands the platforms of all the provincial parties so they have an informed decision when they go out and vote.
About two weeks ago, we had the provincial leaders debates where we partnered with a couple of other Black organizations in the community to put on the second-ever Black community provincial leadership town hall, where the leaders came and heard from our community, and then basically provided answers to questions on what they would do if elected premier, as it relates to our community. We had over 250 folks online. We thought it was very successful and hopefully, those people who were there are able to be more informed on what political leaders will do if elected.
The second thing that we're going to be doing is we're going to be, as the final platforms get released, we're going to be providing those for our community so they can also read those platforms. And we're also going to provide information on how to vote and where to vote. This time around there are longer days for advanced polls. So we will provide that type of information for our community and encourage them to go out and vote because our votes do matter. We do want to make sure that we get the right people in government. That's going to be beneficial for ourselves, our family and our committee.
Sarah: It seems like this was really a multi-pronged approach then, in terms of approaching the provincial election. Why provincially? Why is it important to be engaged at the provincial level?
Velma Morgan: Provincial elections are extremely important because the issues and policies that are provincially mandated are issues that we've seen through the pandemic affect our communities adversely. So, you know, health education, climate change, those are things that are all provincial jurisdiction.
Some may say, we are concerned about those issues like everybody else, but because of systemic racism, those issues, and those policies treat us differently. And we want politicians to realize that when you're creating policy, you need to really see policy through an anti-Black racism lens to ensure that we are adversely affected by these policies that are created and that there are things put in place to make sure that the policies are implemented equitably.
Sarah: I attended the Black community provincial leadership town hall and there were some very pointed questions to leaders, which was actually great to see. I'm wondering, what are some of the results of that particular prong of activity? What did you see as a result from leaders or parties and also from communities?
Velma Morgan: We'll see throughout the election, but what was interesting is, two or three days prior to our actual town hall, you had all the parties except for one releasing the platform as it related to the Black community. Their releasing different things in their platform that they thought that our community might be interested in, which means that week, they're really thinking about our community and thinking about what in their platforms would resonate with our community. And some of those things did resonate and other things didn't. In having something like that it forces political parties to say, the Black community is here and what are we going to do?
Ontario is residence to more than half of the Black community in Canada, right? So we are a force. There are over 600,000 of us. And it is important that political leaders understand that and political leaders realize that our votes can make a difference.
Sarah: That's a really important point. That's why it matters for them to speak to the specific issues Black communities are bringing forward and ask for the solutions that they're going to put on the table and make commitments to-
Velma Morgan: And make come witness to. That was another reason why we did a town hall. They made commitments at this town hall. And we plan on, whoever is elected, to follow up to ensure that they implement those commitments. That's another reason why it is also very important.
Another reason why having our own town hall is important, because people ask me all the time, I've been a political staff for years, I've been involved in politics since I was 15, so I've been to a lot of town halls, and while the town halls may address these very same issues, I don't see in myself answers. Answers that speak directly to me, and that was one reason why we had to have a Black communities town hall. So leaders can think about their answers and their policy and how it directly affects a really big community in Ontario.
Sarah: So it can't be addressed in terms of those questions. They could not be addressed and sort of a general leadership town hall, because they're not specific enough. And we really need to make sure that we're asking those questions.
Velma Morgan: Exactly. A lot of politicians think, well, this is the rule, this is the policy. Everybody should abide by it. But again, these blanket policies don't cover the Black community because of systemic racism and the people who are implementing them and the system that's been in place did not take us into consideration are still there and still the ones implementing these policies. So we're always adversely affected in every single system that there is in the province, in the country.
Sarah: In terms of working collectively, there were a number of organizations working together. Why did you choose, rather than have operation Black Vote Canada present and host the event, why did you choose to work with other organizations?
Velma Morgan: Operation Black Vote Canada, even though we're non-partisan, we are a political organization and while we deal with some policy, we don't deal with all policies. We thought, we're bringing together politicians, which is what we do in the community, but when it comes to the specific policies, we wanted to get organizations in our community that deal with those policies on a day-to-day basis. So TAIBU came, and they deal with health and health crises all the time. The Black Business and Professional Association came and talked about small businesses, entrepreneurship and Little Jamaica, and what's happening there. That's what they deal with on a day-to-day basis. Generation Chosen, they deal with youth and mental health, so they brought in that aspect. So we wanted to bring in organizations that come with expertise to the table so they can speak on behalf of their stakeholders and their clients. And that's why we partnered with organizations.
Now we know that grassroots organizations and not-for-profits are on the ground. They're the ones who deal directly with the people. In fact, we have seen through the pandemic that they fill the gap that the government left. Right?
Sarah: Absolutely.
Velma Morgan: Exactly. And often, especially in our community, they trust those small organizations more than they trust the big institutions. So it's very, very important that they're at the seat at the table and that they're a partner with us to help us bring issues to light that they deal with on a day-to-day basis to the politicians that attended.
Sarah: And you've really highlighted what the sector is, what the non-profit sector is, with having that real diversity of organizations, community served missions and focus. So I think that really is a microcosm. Looking at that list of organizations is great to see, cause that really is sort of the ecosystem of the nonprofit sector from a whole range of viewpoints but the point is that we are supporting communities in the end.
Velma Morgan: Exactly.
Sarah: Well, you mentioned, Velma, that you've worked on the other side of political engagement on key policy files, including with the provincial government. So what's one learning or approach that you apply from that government experience to this advocacy work on the nonprofits.
Velma Morgan: So what's interesting is Operation Black Vote, and even when we partnered with other organizations, we've partnered with other organizations for different things all the time throughout the year, not only June election year, and I always say, when we're going to engage government, we need to go with the problem and potential solutions because often government's are like, okay, and they want to do another study and they don't understand the issue.
And obviously, you're going in with an issue that you understand better than the government. I say, go in with solutions. And often you may not get those solutions, but you'll give government an idea of where to go or what to do. Often you'll partner in creating a policy or solution to whatever problem you have.
This town hall was, how do we engage the Black community? How do we get the message to the Black community? How do we gt the Black community to go and vote? Well, let's find a solution. Let's have a town hall and let's bring the community leaders to us. In our house with our issues where people are more comfortable. That was our solution to getting the information out and hopefully getting more Black Ontarians out to vote.
Sarah: I wonder too when we talk about bringing that work, provincially that lens to it, when you're thinking about the federal election or thinking about the local municipal elections, is there a different approach that you bring in your coalition work?
Velma Morgan: A little bit the same, but a little bit different. So for instance, we did have a municipal town hall with the Toronto candidates because we had three Black candidates running as well. Now that's only Toronto. I think Ontario has 444 municipalities. If you were to do one in every municipality, it would take forever. Right? So this time around what we're planning on doing is highlighting a couple of new municipalities that have a large percentage of Black Ontarians and we'll do municipal town halls there.
We're able to do the provincial town hall again. Federally, what we did was we highlighted, we brought in a representative from each political party to talk about our issues, the same way we do provincially. Now we've also done lobbying at the federal level. The Black community did have a lobby day where we all went up to Ottawa and we would lobby the federal government in different areas. Provincially, we haven't done that simply because of COVID. And for the past two years, we've been restricted, but the plan was to actually have a lobby day at Queen's Park for issues that really pertain to our community.
Sarah: I love hearing about these different examples of tactics, Velma. It's really helpful to highlight, what we mean when we say election advocacy or government relations because there are many different ways to approach it. So I really appreciate that there are different ways to do it. And even in a pandemic, we can still think and get creative about ways that we do this.
Velma Morgan: Yes. And you know what? Our election advocacy isn't just when there's an election coming up. It's all the time because we know that there's gonna be an election at some point. We try to advocate early. I mean, there are times when we advocate federally for things to be in the budget with other organizations. We partner with other organizations to say, we want certain things in the budget, that pertain to the Black community. So we would do that type of advocacy for the budget. We've hosted budget consultations with youth, with the finance minister. So we're always trying to engage community or connecting community, our community with political officials because it is really important to do so.
I think some people say, well, I'm not political, and what we need to know is that everything that we do in our lives has some kind of political element to it. All the rules and policies are all either provincial, federal or municipal level and we need to understand which level of government is responsible for which policy or what issue that we have so we are able to call them up if we need to or speak to them or speak to that issue. And I think not enough of us understand the process. The process is definitely not complicated. You could go to any of the websites, municipal, provincial, federal, and they'll tell you what they do. They'll tell you all the ministries.
We have to engage government. If we don't engage, government, government thinks that we don't care or that they could just make decisions on our behalf. And I'm like, no, you cannot do that. I tell people, we need to use our voice and we need to make sure that they understand what we want so we can negotiate to get what we need.
Sarah: I absolutely agree. We often say at ONN, the solutions that you were talking about, bringing the solutions, that's where the solutions come from. They come from communities because we know on the ground, what works, what doesn't. Here are some new ideas. Here's what community is asking for. So you're right. When you say that people can think, it's not my job. I don't work in government relations or policy advocacy, but really we all do it in some way. It's just a different form.
Velma Morgan: And especially for marginalized communities, because they're not a lot of racialized people who are in government relations so they won't necessarily bring our issues to the forefront when they talk to political folks, so grassroots organizations needs to do their own lobbying, have their own voices heard at the decision-making table. It could be as simple as an email or a letter or inviting them to different activities that you do. It doesn't have to be that formal letter and going in and having a meeting. Politicians, especially the local politicians in your riding or ward will come out and that's your foot in the door. You get them to a celebration or an event. And then once you have them coming out and see what you do, maybe you have a formal meeting. There are so many ways of engaging government, and it doesn't necessarily have to be sitting in an office at Queen's Park.
Sarah: And it's hard to engage if you're doing it just during the election period as well because you haven't built that relationship yet. And so if you're speaking to say, candidates or MPPs currently sitting and you already have that relationship of them coming out to your events-
Velma Morgan: If you're starting to engage elected officials or parties during the election, that's way too late. No, one's listening to you there. They have an agenda. The agenda is to get re-elected or elected. They're not listening to you. You need to do it very, very early and you need to keep it ongoing. I always say as the first step is your local MPP. So that person, whether it's where you live or where you work, they know that you are a voting member. So you know that that's your first line. And then, if they're a cabinet minister and not a cabinet minister, then you're going on to the next level, but at least engage the person that represents you on the front lines.
Sarah: You mentioned earlier about grassroots groups doing this kind of engagement, and that's where I've seen really interesting examples of different groups working together, not just for elections, but post-election as well in doing different kinds of events or if there are certain asks around the budget, that they're putting those ideas together as one, and that seems to really amplify each other's work and focus of their support for communities.
Velma Morgan: Yes. Yes. We saw how different organizations stepped up during the pandemic. We saw the Black Business and Professional Association stepping up for Black businesses and lobbying different levels of government for support for Black businesses because they have different needs. We saw how the JCA and TAIBU and different health organizations stepped up with Toronto Health to get vaccines to people from our community because they're afraid of going to other places because they didn't trust them. These are organizations lobbying on behalf of us saying we can do it here too. And that's because grassroots organizations who know their clients better than anybody else stepped up and provided solutions to the problems that they saw.
Sarah: Great. Thank you. Those are really important examples and really interesting to see how they've also navigated, especially during a pandemic, when all rules are different and the usual supports aren't there, but there were different ways to work together.
So my next question is around this next election. What's one thing that you want provincial party leaders and candidates to know?
Velma Morgan: So this next election is extremely important because whoever is the next premier, what party is going to be ruling our province is going to hopefully take us out of the pandemic. And especially for the Black community, we don't want to be worse off than we were going into the pandemic. The pandemic demonstrated the inequities, and we want to make sure that whoever the next leader is, the next party understands that we have added disadvantages due to anti-Black racism, as such that they need to see whatever policies there are to make everybody better after the pandemic, need to be seen also through an anti-Black racism lens so that things don't adversely affect us and we're left behind once again.
This is an opportunity to uplift our community and I think the best way to do that is to bring Black voices to the table. If they're not elected, they're in grassroots organizations, like our organizations and the ones that I mentioned, that understand our community, that understand our needs and bring them to the decision-making tables before they implement policies or make policy.
Sarah: Going forward post-election what are the plans for working together? And how can organizations really continue that relationship building and coalition when they are working together for something that is time-specific?
Velma Morgan: We worked together to fill the gap that we have. So for instance, it comes together organically, we don't plan. There was an issue and we think to ourselves, okay, what can we do to help solve this particular issue in our community? And who can we bring in who have other expertise that we don't have?
Sarah: So it sounds like you're really open to those opportunities. When windows open or there's a solution or working together, then you've already got that resource and maybe staffing as well on the ground ready to help.
Velma Morgan: Yes. Yes. For instance, when the pandemic started, we wanted to engage politicians on what to do with the Black businesses on Eglinton and we partnered with the BBPA. We did a series of different workshops with the Small Business Minister, with the ministry both provincially and federally in order for them to understand what our community and businesses were going through. And from that, we left it and the BBPA took over and you've seen all the funds that they received to help Black businesses after that initial meeting that we had together.
Sarah: Without bringing those voices to the table that may not have happened because then policymakers may not have seen the need and how did they do it too.
Velma Morgan: And that's why we really think that representation matters and that not only do we need to have elected officials from our community at every level of government, we also need to have political staff and advisors as well, because they're the ones who advise and create policies for their members.
And when they don't have the lived experiences from our community, then what you need to do is come to our community and ask those people who do have the lived experiences on how to assist and help. Government needs to do more of that. Of going to the communities and saying, how can you help us help you?
Sarah: That's great. And you're a resource there and a connection to communities, and communities can then express what it is that they need rather than policymakers making policy in a fishbowl.
Velma Morgan: Yes. Do both things come to the community and ask us for our help, but also, hire Black staffers that can help you reach out to the community and provide some insights into our lives.
Sarah: Thank you so much, Velma. It was such a great conversation today. I really appreciate the stories, the insights over your career in terms of how you've worked with the organizations, grassroots groups, and also thinking about the different levels, including the provincial level. It's really helpful to get those ideas for us to share with the ONN network. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Velma Morgan: Thank you very much for having me. I appreciate it.
Sarah: Thanks so much for joining the third episode of our special Ontario election mini-series. We'll be sure to bring more of the amazing folks working to bring the election and the key issues for nonprofits in 2020. To make sure you know when our next conversation goes live, please subscribe to the show. And if you enjoyed it, please feel free to rate it and share it with your friends.