Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Nov. 12th, 2020

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Thank you very much.

I want to get your view very quickly on the question of how long the election ought to last. We have heard different things from different groups about what effect a longer writ period would have. Does the AFN have an opinion on whether the government should be looking to have a relatively longer election period, within what's permitted in the legislation, or tend toward a shorter writ period?

[Amber Potts]

The AFN does not have an opinion on the length of the writ period, but as I mentioned in my remarks a couple of times, we do feel that earlier communication on how to participate in the electoral process would be positive.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

I know we've spoken a lot about first nations communities. I'm wondering if there's anything beyond what you have said already to do with urban indigenous populations that you think is important for the committee to consider in terms of barriers to voting they may face as a result of the pandemic and things we could be doing now, either as Elections Canada or the federal government, in order to reduce those barriers.

[Amber Potts]

I think the recommendation on training on acceptable forms of ID is just as applicable to on-reserve voting stations as off-reserve. Inadequate training or incidents of racism can happen anywhere, not just in rural or remote settings, but also in urban settings. It's really important that elections staff or polling stations staff and volunteers do not perpetuate systemic discrimination and marginalize first nations people from participating in the elections process even when they have adequate ID.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Next we have Ms. Vecchio for five minutes.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Potts, for joining us today.

I recognize that many reserves are remote and that many don't have access to the general public facilities that we have. What is the percentage of reserves that have voting and polling stations on reserve during a general federal election?

[Amber Potts]

I don't have that statistic available. It is available and it is in our report.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

A percentage have them and some do not have them on their reserves. There would be some reserves without a polling station. Is that correct?

[Amber Potts]

That's correct.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Is that because some of them are more remote? Do you know some of the reasons a polling station may not.... For instance, you've referred to the Mohawk first nation. I'm wondering specifically whether it's because they're not welcoming, or is it just because it's been a true oversight and Elections Canada should have done a little more due diligence? What are your thoughts on that?

[Amber Potts]

There's the situation of first nations not wanting a polling station, and then there's the situation of a first nation wanting the polling station and being refused. It could be timing or poor communications between Elections Canada staff and first nations.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

For those people who are on reserve but are being made to vote off reserve, are there challenges in getting to those voting stations? What are some of the challenges?

[Amber Potts]

Transportation is a challenge to participate in voting off reserve.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

When they are looking at it, does Elections Canada as a whole look at on-reserve voting, or is it done by the local returning officer to verify what needs to be done in each constituency? Do you know?

[Amber Potts]

Could you ask the question again?

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

In my riding of Elgin—Middlesex—London, we have Carrie Snyders, and she is in charge of this area for finding all the polling locations.

In an area that has both off-reserve and on-reserve voting, does Elections Canada assist with on-reserve voting, or is it the local returning officer who has to work with the reserve voting at the time?

[Amber Potts]

It's the returning officer. This is key, because they are not returned until far too late, in our opinion.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

That's great to understand. Do you think that maybe with the federal government working more closely with first nations and more closely with Elections Canada, we can maybe.... To me, if a first nation wants a site there and we're going through a pandemic and they have the ability to have poll clerks and everything there, it would be very useful, and then you're not bringing strangers on reserve. I'm wondering what the best method would be to make sure that all are at the table to have these discussions.

[Amber Potts]

Communication between first nations administration and that person is critical. That's who sets it all up. The AFN is supporting information sharing, but we don't get that information until far too late, and it's not available to first nations administrators until far too late. This is a recommendation that was included in our report to Elections Canada as well. That's a key position to enable an effective polling station, and of course it impacts the staffing of that polling station.

[Karen Vecchio, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

If you have people who are living on reserve and you're trying to promote more indigenous people working at these polling stations, this is a sweet situation whereby we're actually fixing both things. We'd not be bringing people on and we'd be seeing that the poll workers will be from those communities as well. To me, it might be the right fit.

With regard to mail-in ballots, we've spoken to a lot of long-term care homes and we've spoken to different communities. Do you think that mail-in ballots would be a useful resource for first nations? Do you think it would be better to have more time for mail-in ballots, or should we focus on locations on reserve for polling stations?

[Amber Potts]

I think there need to be both. The first nations community is vulnerable to the pandemic, especially the elderly, and mail-in ballots need to be accessible to them and to those who don't want to vote in person but still want to participate.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Ms. Vecchio, I thought you were going to finish right there.

We have a minute or two. Is there a Liberal member who would like to take a one-minute question before we switch into the next panel?

If not, then—

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

On a point of order, Chair, we had two minutes left in the last panel, and you did not allow me to ask the quick question that I had. There were two minutes left, and now you're asking if there's a Liberal who has a one-minute question—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

There were not two minutes left. I said that I would be stopping five minutes before the hour, and we had even gone past that.

At this point we had one minute, but now we're at five minutes to the hour as well, so we have no more time. We'll switch into panel number three.

I would have definitely given it to you, Mr. Tochor, but we were beyond the hour mark at that time.

Ms. Potts, thank you so much for being here today and thank you for your testimony. There were many questions, and you did a wonderful job of answering all of them and giving us some input as to the views that the AFN holds. Thank you.

The team will get set for the next round of witnesses.