The power of the First Nations vote has caused a lot of buzz leading up to the federal election, and that excitement is fueling a group of First Nation University (FNUniv) students.
The group ‘Voice to Vote’ formed as a sociology class project this spring. They held an information session at Prince Albert’s Friendship Centre in March.
But an impressive level of interest from aboriginal people to register to vote and get informed in advance of the election has turned into something more for the group.
With the class now finished, they’re still setting up booths and holding vote information sessions in Prince Albert. So far, they’ve gotten at least 52 people registered to vote for October’s federal election.
Most recently, they set up a booth at FNUniv’s northern campus orientation in Prince Albert on Tuesday.
“There’s always been hostility between the government and First Nations people. The distrust within the treaties and residential schools,” said Ashley Peterson, the spokeswoman for the group.
The ‘Voice to Vote’ group is bringing a fresh message to voters.
“You have to have a foot in each world. You can have your traditional First Nations lifestyle but you also have to be involved in mainstream society and bring them both together,” Peterson said.
Its members include a mix of non-aboriginal, Metis and Cree students.
With new election act rules in place – which critics have said largely affect First Nations people – there are some hurdles that “Voice to Vote” is able to help people overcome.
Peterson explained what she thinks would happen without groups like hers to fill the gaps:
“The results would be the same as the last election, where 9.3 million people didn’t vote. Because I didn’t see anyone reaching out to any of the marginalized groups in our society, but I see it a lot now. Like, this is like a revolution I think because it’s not just us, I see these groups all over Canada. And you can see the changes, you can see the excitement,” she said.
One of them is driving people who don’t have permanent residences to an elections office along with someone they’re staying with to swear an oath of residency.
There is no political agenda, Peterson said. All parties are treated equally, and the goal is simply to help people get informed about their candidates.
“The passion of social change, that’s why we’re non-partisan. We’ve been contacted by a few members of parliament – not gonna say any names – but they wanted us to jump in with them on their campaign trail and we’ve denied everyone, just because that’s not what our common goal is,” she said.
The group is planning a soup and bannock information session on Sept. 25 at Prince Albert’s Indian and Metis Friendship Centre from 10 a.m to 3 p.m.
To learn more about the group’s efforts, check out its Facebook page here.