Democracy Dialogues: Empowerment through Accessibility: Toward Inclusive Democratic Engagement.

• Date: 22 March 2021
• Author: Reynolds, Wendy

Canada's first Deaf parliamentarian recently spoke about his experience seeking elected office and how Ontario's Legislative Assembly worked with him to accommodate his needs and, as a result, became one of the most accessible legislatures in the world.

Ryerson University's Democracy Dialogues series (1) recently invited, Gary Malkowski, the first deaf parliamentarian in Canada, (2) to speak about his experiences in office.

Elected to the Ontario Legislature in 1990, Malkowski confessed that his first experience of voting was to vote for himself in the 1990 provincial election. For most candidates, this might be an unusual career path--many young politicians gain experience and exposure to democratic processes by participation in school government, developing connections to other politically engaged students, and developing an appreciation for and understanding of democratic tools and processes.

Malkowski, on the other hand, had little exposure to the democratic process in his youth. His secondary schooling did not include a civics class and he did not participate in school government. His first experience came when he moved to Washington DC...