Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Committee members, thank you. Thank you for inviting RainCity Housing and Support Society to speak to the committee. l'm Leslie Remund. I have worked for RainCity Housing for 18 years. I'm currently in the role of associate director, responsible for the day

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I went on the elections website. Math is not my strong suit. Social work is more my deal.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Okay. We currently have 38 or 39 authorized documents listed by Elections Canada. While this may appear to be substantial, it is deceiving. As I examined the list through the lens of our community, the number of real options for our citizens is substantially lower. Many of the

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We have provided those. You have to understand that, when a person comes in, we're triaging a multiplicity of issues with that person. What we have to do is prioritize, often. We're adequately staffed, but the work is extremely challenging. We have a triaging process, and often p

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't think one is better than another. I think we need as many as possible.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The people we work with face oppressive circumstances daily in their lives. Poverty is constantly seeking and searching to get your needs met. One of the beauties of the community I talk about is, when one person has groceries, for example, what you'll see in the Downtown Eastsid

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't know that the attestation itself is that difficult. We talked about cultural norms. I think the other thing we have to talk about is community norms. We have seniors in our community who have been going to the same cheque-cashing place for 30 years, to the same bar—that's

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  And it has some complications to it, where you have to be verified at the election. I can't just write a letter and hand it to someone; there's a verification process. A certain person at the shelter has to sign it.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. Most of the people who I know who are voting are using the voter identification card. It's a common practice because they don't have ID.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I wouldn't have the answer to that.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I wouldn't venture to guess the health card.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The community has created a lot of its own ID mechanisms. We have a life skills centre that has a life skills card, so there are community-formulated identifications that people use more than government-issued ID, frankly.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. It's one of the things that we talk about, come election time, the ability to vouch for your neighbour.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't know if there's widespread abuse. I can't see the rationale for abuse. I certainly have never heard of anyone wanting to run from the homeless shelter to a poll to pretend to be somebody else. They have quite a bit going on already. It doesn't seem reasonable to me in our