Native voters in Ontario could play a decisive role in the Oct. 14 federal election, with 10 closely contested seats in areas that have a significant aboriginal population, the Grand Council Chief of the Union of Ontario Indians said Wednesday.
John Beaucage said the province's 100,000 native voters have a historic opportunity to seize some of the political influence gained by other ethnic groups in previous elections.
“We've had new Canadians come here from various parts of the globe and they're very politically astute and very successful at getting their members elected. We just don't have that kind of representation and I think we should,” Mr. Beaucage said.
“We could have a decisive vote in 10 ridings. Case in point: Parry Sound-Muskoka. We have 900 eligible voters in that riding, and last election there was a 28-vote margin. I know for a fact that [natives] had less than 25-per-cent participation last time.”
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Mr. Beaucage said band elections for chief and council typically have voter turnout of 75 to 85 per cent, while federal and provincial elections draw only 20 to 30 per cent of on-reserve voters to the polls, partly because many native people don't recognize the legitimacy of the federal government. As a result, native issues have been of little concern to politicians, he said. Few politicians campaign on reserves, cater to native interests or cultivate their aboriginal constituents.
“I don't know if we'll get to the heights of those [other ethnic] groups during this election, but we're going to start striving to be influential,” he said.
Although he won't endorse a particular party, Mr. Beaucage said he thinks native interests are best served by a minority government.
“It was only with the minority government and pressure from all sides that we got the apology for residential schools, and there has been some good legislation on specific land claims,” he said. “If there was one party in control, I don't think the results would be the same.”
Other native chiefs are less inclined to support the electoral process in its current form.
Morris Swan Shannacappo, Grand Chief of Manitoba's Southern Chiefs Organization, is calling for the creation of native-only federal ridings. He believes it may be the only way for natives to get their voices heard in Parliament.
“Electoral reform has to happen so that our votes will have impact,” he said.
Such a proposal will be opposed by those who see a double standard in allowing native people to opt out of geographically determined ridings, he said, but he believes it would be fairer than a system “rigged to leave first nations voters powerless.”
In a piece published this week in an aboriginal newspaper, he argues that most Canadians choose to live in neighbourhoods with people of similar interests and backgrounds, and therefore have some political clout. Natives, however, were placed by the government on small reserves spread over a large area, he said.
“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,” he wrote.
“When you look at the riding where I live [Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette] we've got four first nations, and the winner there was Inky Mark of the Conservatives. He only had 45 of the more than 1,000 votes that were cast on those reserves.
“Right now we're being sidelined. Our voice is silent.”
