Random Access

At about one in every dozen doors she knocks on, Shaila Kibria gets the “speech.”
“They say, ‘You guys are all the same. You’re just in it for yourselves. You don’t care about us.’”
Kibria says that comment stops her in her tracks every time. She has said the same, or worse, many times herself. “I’m the biggest critic of bureaucracy and all the paperwork,” says the NDP candidate in the provincial riding of Mississauga-Erindale.
“It strikes me in the heart when they say that. It hurts. I just tell them, I have nothing but my face to give you. Read the track record on my brochure and see what I’ve done for the community.”
That’s the culture shock of moving from political attacks, which Kibria has launched many times as a 32-year-old student and community activist best known for her work at University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM), to defence of the “profession” of politics on the front lines of candidacy.
Kibria stands out from most of the other candidates of various political persuasions in Mississauga because of her ardent passion for her various causes, which include women’s rights, the fight against racism, and the rights of mothers to have child care while they attend university.
It took the mother of three a dozen years to get her BA from UTM, during which time she became president of the part-time students’ union, had a children’s book published, volunteered at libraries, mosques, churches and schools and found time to organize Toronto events such as the Day to Stop Sexual Abuse, the Black Youth Coalition Against Violence and National Aboriginal Day.
Her success in establishing a child care centre at UTM is an example of her persistence.
When the administration was less-than-enthusiastic, she and other child care zealots rented their own premises in the Student Centre and proved they could make it a going concern. Now there is a waiting list and the administration is refurbishing two units in a campus residence to house the program it will now take over and run.
The move from backroom political hot-button pusher to the face of a political party has been difficult, concedes Kibria. “I’m more of a behind-the-scenes person but you can’t be humble.”
It bothers her that the (larger) immigrant community from which she comes gives the Liberals a free ride, automatically voting for them out of gratitude for being allowed to come to Canada. She was a Liberal once herself, until she started reading the history and discovered that it was often the left-wing CCF and NDP who were the catalyst for the policies the Liberals still get credit for at the polls.
Being the underdog (the subtitle for every NDP candidate in Mississauga) is nothing new to Kibria, who has already spent all but $1,000 of the $19,000 she raised at a kickoff fundraising banquet. The campaign operates out of doughnut shops and friend’s houses, although another fundraiser is planned which could actually result in an office opened.
On her campaign brochure, which was delivered to half of the riding this weekend by 54 volunteers, Kibria is pictured in open-toed high heel shoes,
a brown-striped business suit and a pink hijab, with her trademark electric smile. It’s a rather disconcerting combination that seems to sum up her unconventional appeal.
“They told me to wear a suit and that’s the only one I own,” laughs Kibria. “They told me to wear a beige hijab because nobody takes you seriously when you wear pink. But I said, No I can’t. That’s just not me.”
Well, she’s wearing pink and, given the propensity she has shown for mobilizing people to date, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for Kibria’s opponents to start taking her seriously.