While neither the issues nor the members of the various diasporas across Canada are homogenous, most advocates seem to agree that as a matter of strategy, a minority Liberal government presents the best chance of meeting their needs. “The social policies of the Liberals make a stronger appeal to humanity,” Enzo Moreno, the director of the Centro Cultural Latino Americano, says in Spanish as we sit in the backyard. The Centro rests in Little Jamaica, an immigrant-heavy, working-class neighbourhood in the northwest end of Toronto, within the Eglinton-Lawrence riding. Moreno, who’s worked with the racialized community for decades, says poverty, lack of affordable housing, food insecurity and precarious immigration are common issues, leaving many residents living in “third world-like conditions.” The self-described anarchist says a Liberal win is good “strategically,” because there is “no real working-class party,” and with the Conservatives, the Centro would have likely closed. Kurtis Vermont, a Liberal supporter and the president of the Afro Canadian Political Literacy Foundation (ACPLF), agreed a Liberal minority is “probably the best for the country” at this time. “We need a strong progressive party (like the NDP) to push our national governing party on key issues,” he told New Canadian Media in a phone interview. But while there’s hope, the work needed to start yesterday, these leaders agree. For the last 19 months, Moreno and a group of a few volunteers from the community have been running a food bank out of the Centro to meet the rising food insecurity and poverty issues caused by the pandemic. According to his estimate, they’ve been able to donate 17,000 plates and counting. This has been possible despite the chronic underfunding problems the Centro has run into since its inception. Moreno says it’s a “miracle” they’ve been able to stay afloat, only possible because of the help received from donors, partners and co-sponsors such as the Red Cross, COSTI Immigrant Services and the York Hispanic Centre – as well as private community members who’ve donated their own funds and time. “We’re indebted, but we are able to plug some holes here and there,” he says. A result of this endless battle for funds is that the Centro’s ability to engage the community in cultural activities has been “reduced to the minimum.” Instead, most energy and funds have been relocated towards the “social aspect,” he says, which has largely been feeding people through the food bank and trying to help undocumented people navigate city services. “People’s needs are real. Many have lost their jobs and others have had to relocate,” he says, as a result of the strain the pandemic has put in people’s pockets and the lack of affordable housing. “Everybody is hurting.” Moreno says everything comes down to social conditions, which includes the fact that many residents are frontline workers who are forced to work unsafe jobs with no benefits like paid sick days. Previously, the CBC reported that Latinos are seven times more likely to contract COVID-19 than their white counterparts and four times as likely to require hospitalization. While the riding has almost always been liberal (except from 2011-2015), Moreno says “the majority of the people there feel excluded.” “People generally don’t see themselves in the candidates, anyone that walks the neighbourhood, that looks like them,” Moreno said. With that said, Moreno described continuing Liberal MP Marco Mendicino as a “just and honest man,” saying he’s genuinely supported some of Centro’s projects in the past. “So, I do believe there is a way (to work with this government going forward),” he said. Similar issues plague the urban regions of the country where Black and Indigenous people live, says Vermont. Lack of affordable housing and childcare are certainly “major issues” within the community. But what’s “top of mind for most,” he adds, is the passing of Bill C-22, which promises to repeal Minimum Mandatory Penalties (MMPs) – 20 of them, to be exact – which data shows leads to the over-incarceration of Black and Indigenous people in particular. The Liberals only introduced the bill this past February. It promises to repeal 14 offences in the Criminal Code plus all six offences under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act which currently receive minimum mandatory penalties. The bill will also give judges more sentencing options like “diversionary programs … to offer other rehabilitative programs to support” people within the criminal justice system, says Vermont.