u/Banner9922

So far we have three candidates:

Mandy Samwell

• Came into politics through grassroots community organizing and neighbourhood advocacy in Eagle Place
• Focuses heavily on housing, public safety, and resident engagement with City Hall
• Became Chair of the Brantford Police Services Board in 2026 and is known for being highly present at local meetings and community events

Richard Carpenter

• Richard Carpenter is one of the longest-serving members of Brantford City Council, first elected in 1991
• Known for his old-school, community-focused style, with strong advocacy for seniors, and taking a stand on local issues like the Arrowdale golf course
• Highly involved in community service/volunteer work

Dan McCreary

• Generally associated with the more traditional, economic oriented side of Brantford politics
• Known for a strong focus on development, tax restraint, and heritage preservation
• Usually votes in line with Kevin Davis, and sometimes slightly more conservatively

Thoughts?

I know a couple who are older multigenerational South Asian Canadians, looking to retire in Surrey. I hear a lot of South Asians from pre-1970s lumber mill era, especially from the North moved to Surrey/Delta, but is there an area that tends to have more of this older community vs the newer post 1990 community?

I was surprised, travelling through Northern BC, to learn how many towns once had large South Asian communities, especially Sikh and Punjabi families. This seemed to be the case throughout the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. Today, in many of those places, most of that population has left, and temples have closed.

I know a lot of them worked on the lumber mills, and when those closed, they left. So where did people go? My theory is that parents followed their kids, who became part of the white collar workforce, to larger centres like Vancouver, Surrey, and Abbotsford... but I don't know for sure.