Canada’s Chief Electoral Officer says they are putting in their best efforts to help Aboriginal people cast their vote in the upcoming federal election.
Previous federal elections have allowed a second person to vouch for the identity of a voter who lacks documents containing an address.
But when the Conservative government passed the Fair Elections Act, it essentially ending this process.
Critics say the change creates unnecessary barriers for Aboriginal voters across the country, many of whom do not have a fixed address.
Marc Mayrand, Canada’s Chief Electoral Officer, says the best way to get around this barrier is to contact your band office.
“For those who don’t have any document handy establishing their address, we will accept a letter from the reserve authorities confirming they live on the reserve,” says Mayrand. “That with another identification document will be enough to be able to vote.”
Mayrand says there are 42 different identification documents that are allowable for voting.
According to Elections Canada, around 45 per cent of status Indians voted in the last federal election.
Mayrand says languages is also a barrier, so they have provided voting guides in twelve different Aboriginal languages including Cree, Dene and Michif.
Recently, up to $1 million in funding was provided to the Assembly of First Nations to help them communicate the new voter identification rules.
He says their approach is to offer everyone in the country the opportunity to vote.
“No matter what their circumstances are and no matter where they are in to country,” says Mayrand. “We will set up over 700 polling stations in various reserves across the county and if a band wants to set up something all they have to do is contact us.”
Mayrand was in Saskatoon today speaking at the University of Saskatchewan about how Canada’s democracy compares on the international stage.
He says Canada is the envy of a lot of countries, but that does not mean we should become complacent.
Mayrand notes Canada is the only country that requires proof of residency to vote.