Thank you, Chair and honourable members. I am here representing the Grand Chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation. “Nishnawbe Aski” means “people and the land”. The Grand Chief sends his regrets. He could not be here. He wanted to be here.
The Nishnawbe Aski Nation is comprised of 50 first nations, located in the far north. On behalf of these people, I thank you for taking the time to listen to our concerns with regard to the proposed amendments to the Canada Elections Act.
Most of our communities are remote, with access only by air. Access to urban centres is limited and very expensive. Access to government services is also limited, and when personal attendance is necessary it can be very expensive.
Our interest in Bill C-31, an act to amend the Canada Elections Act and the Public Service Employment Act, arises from the measures suggested to achieve improved integrity of the electoral process by reducing the opportunity of electoral fraud or error.
Among other requirements, these amendments would require that the electors, before voting, provide one piece of government-issued photo identification showing their name and address, or two pieces of identification authorized by the Chief Electoral Officer showing their name and address, or take an oath and be vouched for by another elector.
I would like to inform the standing committee that measures that are simple enough in an urban centre such as here in Ottawa or Toronto impose considerable personal and community hardship in remote first nation communities. At best, these changes will impose considerable inconvenience; at worst, they could cause eligible voters to be disenfranchised.
In addressing the proposed amendments, we have made the following observations.
Few of our communities have street names, and none that I am aware of have local mail delivery based on street address. Consequently, identification based on civic or mailing address is not possible. Most people share a common mailing address, which is the name of their community and the community postal code. With regard to listing the names alphabetically, many share similar names in communities. Individuals with the same name are identified by their family affiliation and their personal history known to the people of the community. We wonder how the list of electors will be approached for residents of remote reserves with no street addresses and one common mailing address.
It seems there is an intention to gather electoral information through income tax returns. I advise the committee that first nations people in the remote north generally do not file income tax returns. If the only issue here is identification of the person filing taxes as a Canadian citizen, I suggest that you take it for granted that we are all Canadian citizens.
Our greatest concerns are related to proposed sections 143 to 145, which refer to requirements for government-issued photo identification. The acquisition of photo identification is made difficult because we have limited or no access to government issuing agencies. Acquiring a birth certificate, driver's licence, health card, or other identification is difficult because we do not have the agencies in our communities to issue these documents.
The attempt to accommodate lack of documentation raises two issues. First, the requirement to take an oath would necessitate that the returning officer or other agent administering the oath should be able to understand our languages. Has the oath been translated? Will you provide interpreters to administer and hear oaths after the content and the intent have been explained to our people who do not understand English?
Secondly, the opportunity to take the oath may be qualified by having an elector with approved documentation vouch for the person who does not have documents. However, the qualified elector may only vouch for one other person. It seems we would have to find separate, qualified electors to vouch for each person who does not have approved identification. In communities where we are generally known to each other from birth, this seems unnecessary.
We are also concerned that these amendments to the act could affect our elders. Most of these people do not have birth certificates; few of them have a driver's licence. Leaving their communities to acquire photo identification is a severe hardship and in some instances it will be neither feasible nor affordable.
In conclusion, we suggest that the proposed amendments have failed to take into consideration the realities of the people in our remote communities. They are based on the assumption that the majority of Canadian electors live in urban centres. Until government services are made available in an equitable manner to our people living in remote communities and the amendments to the act reflect the realities of the lives of our people.... I suggest that the committee, if possible, visit some of our communities to better understand the challenges we face in our role as Canadian citizens.
I am from one of these northern communities, from a little community called Bearskin Lake, which is just a little west of Big Trout Lake.
If you have any questions, I'll be happy to try to answer. Thank you.