Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good afternoon.
I want to begin by thanking the members of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs for inviting aboriginal and first nations people to appear as witnesses on this panel.
My name is Gladys Christiansen. I'm a band member and a first nations member of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band, which is still our legal name. It is the largest first nation in northern Saskatchewan with 9,935 members, 6,399 who live on reserve and 3,536 who live off reserve. Of these, 6,136 are of voting age, and 3,778 of those live on reserve and 2,358 of those who are able to vote live off reserve.
We don't know how many La Ronge band members voted in the last election, but we do know that voters were denied because they did not have voter information cards or any of the required forms of identification. We also know that vouching was used to vote in the last election.
I am not an expert, and that's not the reason I was invited here. You've heard many experts already, but I can speak to the concerns we have of Bill C-23 and how it will impact the future participation of first nations in the federal elections.
I am a status Indian who has lived on an Indian reserve for most of my life. Bill C-23 proposes to eliminate vouching and the use of voter information cards. As we heard from the Chief Electoral Officer here on March 6, Bill C-23 will further reduce the number of first nations members who are able to vote in federal elections.
Harry Neufeld, a former B.C electoral officer, on the TV program The West Block just this past weekend indicated that in 2011, 400,000 Canadians used voter information cards, and 120,000 used vouching in order to vote. The majority of these were aboriginals on reserves—this is what he said—students in residences, and seniors in old folks homes. Bill C-23 will eliminate all of these voters.
The majority of Canadians are able to vote with just their driver's licence, as long as it includes their address. However, as the Chief Electoral Officer indicated in his presentation to this committee on March 6, there are approximately four million Canadians who do not have a driver's licence. Furthermore, I have a valid Saskatchewan driver's licence, and it does not include an address. This means that in addition to the four million Canadians who do not have a driver's licence, there are many more who cannot use a driver's licence that meets the identification requirements.
The other option for voter identification at the polls is to produce two forms of authorized identification, one of which must have an address. There is a list of 38. Of these, only 13 may include an address. I have reviewed that list, and unlike the Democratic Reform Minister Pierre Poilievre, who has numerous pieces of identification in his wallet, most first nations people do not have any of those pieces of authorized identification and documents, much less one that contains an address such as a utility bill, a bank or a credit card statement, vehicle ownership, a residential lease, or an insurance policy.
The reality on the reserve is that many first nations people living on reserve are unemployed and live in crowded housing, often with three and four generations within one household. This is the way that I grew up on my first nation. This means that only one person in that household receives a utility bill. When a person is living on $320 a month, how can that person be expected to have credit cards, bank accounts, vehicles, mortgages, residential leases, and insurance policies? Many do not have a driver's licence and they do not have any other forms of identification.
Even obtaining a treaty card has been difficult for the last several years. First nations are still waiting for new cards to come from Ottawa because the cards can no longer be issued at the first nation's or even the regional Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada's offices. Applicants have been waiting for up to two years to receive their treaty cards.
If the government is issuing new cards, we hope that they have given some consideration to accepting the treaty status membership card as the acceptable form of identification. It is a government issued picture ID. Why can't it be just as acceptable as a driver's licence?
We support the past initiatives of Elections Canada in their attempt to increase voter participation for disadvantaged Canadians, such as the voter information cards and vouching. This was a relatively new process and can be improved, but it should not be eliminated.
How can the Canadian government continue to monitor the voting procedures and processes in other countries when they are excluding the most disadvantaged voters in Canadian federal elections?
The government continually stresses the accountability of first nations. What about the government's accountability to Canadians? The Chief Electoral Officer has numerous experts and these experts have been calling for amendments to Bill C-23 and the government and Minister Pierre Poilievre continue to ignore these experts. First nations hope that the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs will be able to influence the minister and the government to make the required amendments to Bill C-23.
If Bill C-23 is not amended, the number of first nations people that will be able to vote in the next and future federal elections will be significantly reduced. It will be eliminated for many of them.
Thank you.