I'm Reverend Lillian Roberts. I'm here representing the United Church of Canada. I am a staff person for Ottawa Presbytery.
The United Church of Canada is the largest Protestant denomination in our country. The concerns that I bring before you this morning are practical in nature, but they do also speak to the relationship and the connection that individual participants in the faith community are able to make with their civic understandings and responsibilities.
Many of our church buildings throughout the country do in fact serve as polling stations both on the day of election and on the days of advance polls. This is the case as often our church buildings are well known in the community and are physically accessible.
The concern I want to raise regarding the proposed changes in legislation arise from the implications of the bill on the availability and ability of churches to share in the civic process. The proposed changes will now stipulate that all polling stations open on polling day will also be open on the last day of advance polls, which is the Sunday immediately before the election. The provision is that the advance polls will be open from noon until 8 p.m. While this may be possible in some United churches, it will be difficult for others to clear the space for polling stations on a Sunday morning by noon. The result will be that these congregations will therefore find themselves ineligible for use as a regular polling station.
Certainly this will have a direct effect on some churches that have experienced a welcome source of rental income that comes from participating, but of more concern is the loss of participation in the civic process. Many United Church congregations are organizers of all-candidates forums, and they encourage their members and adherents to participate and take seriously their right and responsibility to be a part of the democratic process. The physical location of local polling stations in our churches helps us to strengthen the message and to encourage participation.
For a number of years, I served in a suburban congregation here in the city, Rideau Park United Church on Alta Vista Drive, which is a regular polling station for the elections, and indeed, the hosting of election day prompted a greater sense of involvement in the electoral process.
It appears to me that a couple of options could be considered. The first is the severing of the requirement that the regular polling stations be in the same location as the advance polls on the day before the election. The other option is to adjust the hours even by one hour. A 1 p.m. start would allow for more congregations to be able to transition into making their space available.
Thank you.