British Columbia’s municipal elections produced a notable result for representation this weekend: two India-born candidates won contested mayoral races, and a third took office by acclamation, in a province-wide vote that filled mayor, council, regional director and school trustee posts across 161 municipalities and 27 regional districts.
In Fernie, Harshan Ramadass won the mayoralty with about 54.5 per cent of the vote — 1,524 votes to Kyle Hamilton’s 1,194 — after four years on Fernie’s city council. In Williams Lake, Surinderpal Rathor was re-elected mayor with roughly 2,116 votes, beating former mayor Walt Cobb by more than 1,000 votes and returning for a second term after council service dating back to 1993. Jag Gill secured the Mission mayoralty earlier by acclamation.
The winners emphasised long local ties and community service rather than newcomer stories, and the results are being read as part of a wider shift in local representation. South Asians make up about 9.6 per cent of British Columbia’s population, according to the 2021 census.
The outcomes, reported Monday as results were declared after Saturday’s vote, add three more names to the growing list of Indo-Canadian civic leaders in B.C. — a trend playing out town by town, in places where the mayor is often the most recognisable public official residents will ever meet.
