‘Swinging the Vote?’

“The Assembly of ‘First Nations’ {Indian Tribes} says the current federal election is seeing a record number of ‘indigenous’ {sic, they mean ‘aboriginal’} candidates — and ‘First Nations’ voters could swing the vote in almost one in five ridings.

“In an analysis, the national ‘indigenous’ {‘aboriginal’} advocacy organization says there are at least 62 ‘First Nations {Indian}, Métis and Inuit candidates running. That’s an increase over the 54 ‘indigenous’ {‘aboriginal’} candidates who ran in 2015, when a record-setting 10 were elected to Parliament.

“The assembly also identifies 63 “priority districts” where ‘First Nations’ voters could swing the vote. One of them is ‘Conservative’ Leader Andrew Scheer’s riding of Regina Qu’Appelle. Scheer won the seat by 5,342 votes in 2015 and there are 6,815 eligible ‘First Nations’ voters there, according to the 2016 census.

“In the northern Saskatchewan riding of Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River, there are almost 23,000 eligible ‘First Nations’ voters. The seat was won by New Democrat Georgina Jolibois by only 82 votes in 2015.

“The assembly identifies priority districts as those where the eligible ‘First Nations’ voting population is either larger than the margin of victory in the 2015 election, or accounts for at least one per cent of the total of eligible voters and is within five per cent of the margin of victory.

“The figures show that ‘indigenous’ {‘aboriginal’} voters could play a vital role in this election. Bellegarde said he encourages ‘First Nations’ {aboriginals} to embrace the concept of “dual citizenship“.
{Unbelievable gall…}

“Bellegarde said he voted for the very first time in 2015 {!?!} and he doesn’t feel any less Cree, or any less a member of the Little Black Bear ‘First Nation’ {a ‘nation’ of 592 people} of Saskatchewan, for exercising the right to vote in a Canadian election.

“‘Indigenous’ {aboriginal} voter turnout broke records in 2015, with a 14-percentage point increase for on-reserve voters to 61.5%…

“National Chief Perry Bellegarde said the numbers show an important move toward increasing ‘indigenous’ {aboriginal} engagement in the political process.

“Getting our people around decision making tables is key to bringing about better policy and legislative change in Canada“,
Bellegarde said in an interview.

“The candidacy figures are based on self-reported numbers from each of the major political parties and could be higher in cases where ‘indigenous’ candidates may be running as ‘Independents’, for example.

“The New ‘Democrats’ attracted the highest number of ‘indigenous’ {aboriginal} candidates — 27. Eighteen ‘indigenous’ {aboriginal} candidates are running for the ‘Liberals’ and seven each for the ‘Greens’ and ‘Conservatives’. The Peoples Party of Canada does not record demographic measures for its candidates, but policy analysts found one Métis and one ‘First Nations’ candidate based on the party’s postings, the assembly said.

“The figure also includes former ‘Liberal’ cabinet minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, who is running as an Independent in Vancouver-Granville. Bellegarde said that seeing “role models” like Wilson-Raybould in positions of power is likely influencing other ‘indigenous’ {aboriginal} candidates to join the race.”

–‘Federal election seeing a record number of Indigenous candidates and First Nations swing votes: AFN’,
Canadian Press, Oct. 10, 2019
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/assembly-first-nations-ridings-swing-votes-1.5316630

Polling station in the Hiawatha Council Hall on Oct. 31, 1960. (Nick Nickels – Library and Archives Canada – PA-123915)

“On Oct. 31, 1960, members of Hiawatha and Curve Lake ‘First Nations’ in Ontario made history in Canada by voting in a federal by-election without losing treaty status.
{Hiawatha ‘First Nation’, a ‘nation’ of 671 people
Curve Lake ‘First Nation’, a ‘nation’ of 2,415 people}

“This was two years before the Canada-wide federal election of 1962 where status ‘First Nations’ people across Canada were able to vote for the first time. The legislative changes to extend the vote to ‘First Nations’, brought in by John Diefenbaker’s ‘Progressive Conservative’ government, took effect in July 1960.
{Before then, aboriginals were able to trade their (racial) ‘status’ card for full Canadian citizenship, including the right to vote…}

“In Peterborough, Ont., the death of the riding’s longtime ‘Progressive Conservative’ MP, Gordon Fraser, led to a byelection that October. Hiawatha and Curve Lake ‘First Nations’ citizens became the first to exercise their voting rights as ‘First Nations’ people {No, they exercised their voting rights AS CANADIAN CITIZENS!}.

“It really changed things“,
said Eleanor Muskratt. Her late husband, Eldon Muskratt, was a band councillor in Hiawatha at the time and helped staff a polling station for the byelection. She said it was a big day that led to the reserve becoming more involved with the surrounding communities, like the village of Keene and the city of Peterborough.

“Before, you were just sort of by yourselves“,
she said. After the ‘First Nations’ were given the right to vote, she said members felt more accepted because non-‘indigenous’ people would see they were all just people.

“I think that’s what brought people together, that vote.”

“While the right to vote may have brought these communities together, the act of voting in Canadian elections can be a contentious subject in ‘indigenous’ {aboriginal} communities. Some ‘First Nations’ groups say voting gives people a voice and a seat at the political table that was not guaranteed until the 1960 legislation, while others argue that participating in Canadian politics goes against ‘traditional governance’ {inherited monarchical} structures.

“It’s difficult for Sean Conway, a Curve Lake ‘First Nation’ councillor, to think that there was a period of time in his parents’ lives when they were denied the right to vote. Along with being a councillor, Conway is also co-chair of the Ontario New ‘Democratic’ Party’s {segregated} ‘Indigenous’ {Aboriginal} Peoples Committee.

“Conway said his parents were proactive in talking to their children about politics, including how it was important to vote and understanding the consequences of their actions. Voting is a simple but important gesture, he said…

“I think that there’s a lot of responsibility for ‘First Nations’ voters to make a choice, if not for their own representation, to have a say in the process of things that affect them.”

“He recognized that voting can be a polarizing action within Indigenous communities but he said it’s imperative that ‘indigenous’ {aboriginal} people understand what they’re doing and why they’re making these decisions — whether it’s to run as a candidate, vote for a political party or to choose not to participate — and recognize the potential consequences.

“You vote because you want to see change or you want you want to make your voice heard, or you don’t vote because you understand the system and you don’t have confidence in the system“,
said Conway.

“People are allowed to have their opinions and their beliefs and if you don’t want to recognize the Canadian state, that’s fine“,
he said.
“They’re not going to recognize you.”

{That’s not true. Aboriginals can claim to not be Canadian citizens and yet, still receive taxpayer-funded benefits intended for Canadian citizens!}

“Hiawatha ‘First Nation’ Chief Laurie Cowie-Carr said she believes voting is important but echoed Conway’s sentiment that each individual has the right to choose whether they vote or not. Cowie-Carr’s late father, Frank Cowie, was chief in Hiawatha for nearly 20 years. She said that since that time, in the last 30 years, not a lot has changed in the relationship between ‘indigenous’ {aboriginal} people and Canada. She said when she was younger, her father would talk to her about politics and explain who the parties were, and why he was voting the way he was. That was influenced by how they were working with ‘indigenous’ {aboriginal} people.

“If you don’t use your right to vote, then that could get in a party that has less value of ‘indigenous’ {aboriginal} peoples, ‘First Nations’ and our treaties“,
she said.
“Sometimes we only look at what they’re doing. What aren’t they doing for ‘indigenous’ {aboriginal} peoples? It’s important to be aware of that, too.“

“In 1960, when Hiawatha and Curve Lake took part in the Peterborough byelection, Cowie-Carr said the only party willing to work with the ‘First Nations’ was the NDP. That was the first time — and so far only — time that party was elected in the riding federally…

“According to Elections Canada, the 2015 federal election saw on-reserve voter turnout rise by 14 percentage points, while the turnout among the general population increased by six percentage points.

“This statistic does not account for ‘indigenous’ {aboriginal} people who live off-reserve or in urban settings and because Elections Canada does not collect demographic information at the polls, these numbers also do not take into consideration non-‘indigenous’ {aboriginal} people who live on-reserve.

“Over the last 10 years, Chad Cowie from Hiawatha ‘First Nation’, a PhD candidate at the University of Alberta, has been studying ‘indigenous’ {aboriginal} politics and recently, ‘indigenous’ {aboriginal} voting. For his dissertation, he is looking at the impact of ‘indigenous’ {aboriginal} people voting, with a focus on the 2015 election and the current election.

“Voting can work when it helps benefit you in the sense of getting rid of who might be a ‘common enemy’“,
said Cowie. But he said the 2015 rise in turnout may not be repeated this time around.

“The current government has not done enough to hurt us to make us angry to come and vote, and they have not done enough to make us love them and come out to vote.”

–‘The 1st First Nations to participate in a federal election reflect on the politics of voting’,
Rhiannon Johnson, CBC News, Sept. 23, 2019
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/hiawatha-curve-lake-federal-byelection-1.5290370
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See also:
‘Pandering to the Aboriginal Vote’ {Sept.19, 2019}:
“Political party election promises to aboriginals…
{Hint: None of them advocate doing the sensible thing –
END RACE BASED LAW!}”
https://endracebasedlaw.ca/2019/09/19/pandering-for-the-aboriginal-vote/

‘Deviating From The Narrative’ (Election Debate) {Sept.17, 2019}:
“In politically-correct Canada, it is not allowed for a public official – particularly one running for Prime Minister – to disagree with ANY aspect of the aboriginal narrative:
“‘Conservative’ Leader Andrew Scheer said Thursday that his party can’t support a United Nations Declaration on ‘Indigenous’ Rights because it could let “one group of individuals” hold resource projects “hostage”…”
https://endracebasedlaw.ca/2019/09/17/deviating-from-the-narrative/

‘NDP Nominates ‘Partial-Aboriginal’ Extremist’ (Vancouver Centre) {Aug.27, 2019}:
“Nearly a year before the national inquiry released its report, Ouellette wrote a blistering blog post in which he maintained that the federal government’s residential-schools program was a
“program of illegal genocide“.
“And he stated that it was
“motivated first and foremost by theft“…”
https://endracebasedlaw.ca/2019/08/27/ndp-nominates-partial-aboriginal-extremist/

‘Attempting to Influence the Fall Election‘ {July 28, 2019}:
“Former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould will release a book in the middle of the fall election campaign… Much of the text will…be devoted to Canada’s fraught relationship with ‘indigenous’ {They mean ‘aboriginal’} peoples.”
https://endracebasedlaw.ca/2019/07/28/attempting-to-influence-the-fall-election/
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