News & Events
Election system jips First Nations
October 3, 2008
Can Indian people flex their political muscle by dramatically increasing voter participation in the upcoming federal election? No they can't. At least not within southern Manitoba's First Nations.
For our votes to have an impact, the electoral system will have to be reformed.
Creation of separate ridings for First Nations people could provide a partial solution. Under such a system, people with Indian status would vote in separate ridings that would consist of only First Nations members.
I know realize that this type of suggestion would raise howls of protest among many non-Indians. They would claim that letting Indians out of the geographically determined riding system would create a double standard. In fact, it might be controversial among some Indians who wouldn't want to lose their clout - or imagined clout - within the existing constituency system.
This type of electoral reform but it would be a lot better than what exists now, which is a system rigged to leave First Nations' voters powerless.
Every First Nation in southern Manitoba is within a federal riding where even a 100 per cent turnout by First Nations' residents would have ZERO impact on the result.
An example is the Sandy Bay First Nation. During the 2006 election Conservative MP Inky Mark won re-election in Dauphin-Swan River capturing 60 % of the constituency's vote. Yet, at Sandy Bay he got only 13 of 404 votes, about 3%.
The Sandy Bay turnout was reflected that of many First Nations. At Rolling River FN Mark collected four of 90 votes and at Ebb and Flow 10 of 302 votes. In Brandon-Souris Conservative Merv Tweed won a landslide but got only 8 of 190 votes at Sioux Valley FN. In all of these First Nations voter turnout was less than half, sometimes less than a third, of band council elections.
Some Canadians would likely say "So what? A lot of us live in ridings where we hate the winning party."
But with First Nations there is one big difference. Most Canadians choose where they live. Usually they are within communities, or sections of cities, where political interests are similar. As a result there are ridings that are predominately, rich, poor, industrial, middle class, agricultural, and so on. Many ethnic groups are congregated in a way that maximizes their clout in a few key ridings.
This does not apply to First Nations. Long ago the government created small Indian reserves spread out over large areas. Then immigrant settlers filled in the vast landscape in between. Initially this system was designed to keep large numbers of Indians from getting together to rebel. Today it keeps us impotent within the Canadian political system.
Within Canada there are more than 300 ridings. Outside of the northern territories there are only two where the majority of voters are Aboriginal (these totals include Metis and Inuit.) One is Churchill in northern Manitoba which has elected Elijah Harper and Tina Keeper.
If we had our own ridings, then we could look at developing our own political parties, but initiatives like the First People's National Party can only succeed if there is electoral reform.
I'm not saying that separate ridings for First Nations are the only solution but it would be an improvement over the current system, which makes voting almost pointless for many First Nations residents. If the system isn't fixed, we might as well ignore it and concentrate on lobbying, building economic strength and radicalism.
Canadians in general should be upset with the current geographically based electoral system where one party can collect a little more than a third of the vote and secure a majority of MPs, but that is a problem for someone else to address. I just want to ensure that First Nations influence is felt and that we can elect MPs who will truly speak for us, not sing to an established political party's tune.
Grand Chief Morris J. Swan Shannacappo of the Southern Chiefs' Organization. SCO represents 36 First Nations in southern Manitoba.