As the list of declared candidates hoping to become Winnipeg’s next mayor has swelled to 14 with nearly three months to go until election day, the city’s diverse and growing immigrant population is being aggressively courted and is likely to play a pivotal role at the finish line.

City Coun. Scott Gillingham (St. James) has the support of Deputy Mayor Markus Chambers, a second-generation immigrant from Jamaica.

“It took until 2018 for a Black man to have a seat on Winnipeg’s city council, and I think that is too long a time,” Gillingham said, referring to Chambers (St. Norbert–Seine River).

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