With Canada’s federal election approaching, political parties are focused on mobilizing voters. However, they may be overlooking how ethnic communities are already shaping the country’s political life.
Immigrants and diaspora communities make up a growing segment of Canada’s population. In 2021, a record 23 per cent of the Canadian population, more than 8.3 million people, were current or former immigrants, the highest share since 1921. People from Asia constituted 51.4 per cent of this immigrant population.
I am a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Education. My doctoral research focused on the integration practices of South Asian immigrants from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh living or working in northeast Calgary.
Using the Canadian Index for Measuring Integration, I explored how they engaged with Canadian society across economic, social, health and political dimensions. Much of this engagement is driven by multilingualism and ethnic networks, increasingly mediated by platforms like WhatsApp, X and Facebook.
Researching political integration in a multilingual digital world
Since the federal election was called in late March, I’ve been conducting a digital ethnography of social media pages run by South Asian community influencers. Digital ethnography involves observing how people use internet technologies to communicate, engage and make meaning in online spaces.
The influencers in my study are individuals who manage digital platforms, such as Facebook groups, WhatsApp chats and other community networks, and play a key role in shaping how community members access, discuss and act on political information. The pages I examined — mostly on WhatsApp, Facebook and X — continue to show how multilingualism and ethnic networks shape political awareness and influence voter behaviour.
Too often, political engagement is narrowly defined by voter turnout. But my research with the South Asian diaspora in Calgary shows that political integration extends far beyond the ballot box. It happens on social media, at mosques, temples and gurdwaras, through multilingual volunteering and in community spaces where language, culture and civic life intersect.
Crucially, it also extends to transnational issues. Many community members discuss global events — such as the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Russia-Ukraine war or United States trade policies — as well as Canadian issues like immigration.
For my research, I interviewed 19 first-generation South Asians from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, living in Calgary. Participants in my study described the wide range of civic and democratic activities they take part in: volunteering, joining online discussions and attending cultural or religious events where political issues were discussed — mostly in both English and their heritage languages.
Participation spans both formal volunteering, often in English-dominant spaces, and informal volunteering at religious institutions, festivals or on social media. Many preferred to volunteer where they could speak Hindi, Punjabi, Bangla or Urdu or sometimes a mixture of multiple languages, referred to as translanguaging.
One participant, a banker and social media influencer who runs a Pakistani Facebook group, said:
“I often volunteer on Facebook. I also join politicians in their campaigns. My entire social media work is based on Urdu. It allows me to connect with people.”
During digital ethnography, this participant was observed combining artificial intelligence (AI) generated images with multilingual postings to campaign for a political party.
Beyond voter turnout
South Asians are Canada’s largest visible minority group and their civic participation offers a vital lens into how democracy functions in a multicultural, multilingual society. There’s a widespread belief that if people aren’t engaging with politics in the dominant language, then they must not be engaging at all.
However, my research shows otherwise. Societal multilingualism — the ability to use both English and heritage languages — is protected under Canada’s Multiculturalism Act and supports more inclusive participation. A participant who works for a settlement agency explained that multilingual political activities help “in communication, explaining policies, responding to people’s questions, understanding their concerns and addressing them.”
There’s also a common misconception that nominating a candidate from a specific ethnic background guarantees community support. While that may influence local elections, federal voting decisions are often more complex. Participants in my research emphasized party platforms, past performance and national and international issues alongside identity. Ethnic concentration alone does not determine electoral success.
Ethnic networks — made up of extended family, faith groups, digital communities and neighbourhood ties — act as civic incubators. They are not isolated enclaves but dynamic platforms where newcomers develop political literacy and trust.
Rethinking political participation
Canada’s official languages are English and French, but multilingualism plays a central role in immigrant communities. In my research, language is dynamic — a social and cultural resource that fosters identity and engagement.
Participants translated political materials, explained policies to others and used multilingual platforms to discuss topics like housing, health care and immigration. These practices are visible in this election cycle too, as South Asian community members use language, digital tools, artificial intelligence and hot-button issues to engage voters. Language in these settings is cultural capital. It enables participation through familiarity, emotional connection and social belonging.
Faith-based spaces like gurdwaras, mosques and mandirs are civic forums. Candidates visit during campaigns and community leaders help shape political dialogue and participation. These institutions offer cultural fluency and language access that mainstream systems often lack.
As immigration reshapes Canada’s demographics, political integration is more than a trend — it’s essential to a functioning democracy. While some parties provide translations or host cultural events, they often miss how deep civic engagement already exists within these communities.
Immigrants are not passive recipients anymore. They are active participants, shaping conversations in their own languages and networks. Ahead of the 2025 election, it’s time to move beyond ethnic voting myth and recognize the full civic ecosystem — from WhatsApp groups to mosque courtyards.
Political parties must go beyond hiring translators or leaning on community leaders. Multilingual civic participation is not an afterthought — it’s foundational. It’s time to engage people in the languages they speak, in the spaces they trust.
If we want a truly inclusive democracy, we must meet people where they are linguistically, culturally and locally. Ethnic networks are not detours from political life. They are on-ramps. And multilingualism is not a barrier to participation. It’s the language of democracy.
Kashif Raza receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
