Comment 28 – comments and feedback

Aiza Awan

I am writing to the federal electoral redistribution commission regarding the new proposed boundaries for the riding I have lived in and have been an active community member in for over 10 years. I along with my family, reside in the North Park area here in Brampton North.

I was informed by some fellow neighbors and community members that some of North Park will be removed in the new proposal by the commission. I am a bit concerned by this as it effects our community in a variety of ways. The first being, that a significant amount of residents in the North Park area are from the Muslim community, and are connected through our local mosque, the Jamiat Ul Ansar of Brampton, Great Lakes Masjid. For years this mosque, has served as a major epicenter for our community not only to bind us together through prayer, but also through the various programs and recreational activities this mosque provides. By removing the North Park area from the riding, the Muslim community here will be divided as the mosque will remain in the riding. As a underrepresented group, we have worked for years within the riding to establish our voice as a community, especially with the help of the mosque and it's leadership. Therefore, if you remove North Parl from the riding of Brampton North, you will be dividing a community of interest that will then be lumped in with other groups that differ greatly from ours, language and religion wise. As mentioned, the Muslims in our area have worked very hard to establish a voice and splitting up North Park community via Dixie Road means you will be splitting up one large community into 2 different ones.

Along with this, it looks like there is a lack of consistency in the proposal, as 410 is being used as a natural divide until the boundary reaches Bovaird and cuts out our North Park quadrant (Bovaird on the North end, to the 410 on the west end, to Williams Parkway on the South and Dixie on the East end). Our community agrees that this is a huge divide that will cause split representation, along with confusion among residents. We propose that you keep North Park within the boundaries of Brampton-Chinguacousy by using 410 as a natural boundary as it is currently and keep it as Bovaird on the North end, to the 410 on the west end, to Williams Parkway on the South and Dixie on the East end, to include our community.

Along with this, I want to mention that similar neighboring communities such as the one that is still being included in the proposal (further down North Park to Bramalea) along with the Professors Lake Community, are very similar communities of interest, and should not be divided, as this will cause further underrepresentation of these very similar groups again.

I want to thank you for providing the public the space to express our concerns, and I have high hopes that commission will take our community's feedback into account.

Thank you,

Aiza Awan