Elections Canada failed to guarantee access for Indigenous voters during the 2021 federal election – Toronto Star
March 13, 2022
Not ensuring the most fundamental of civil rights is a direct affront to the spirit and process of reconciliation.
You likely didn’t hear about it, as the issue hardly made a splash in the news: during our September federal election, 205,000 mail-in ballots were uncounted. This issue is especially troubling for its outsize impact on Indigenous communities, and stacks on other, similar failures.
There are 274 First Nations communities in Canada that lack access to an on-reserve polling station. This adds to the importance of accessible mail-in ballots. However, the relatively short writ period, combined with the pressing demands of a pandemic election, created a flurry of issues on this front.
