Liberals, NDP compete hard for provincial Aboriginal vote
- Fraser Needham | September 10, 2015
In what has become a very competitive federal election campaign, both the Liberals and NDP are driving hard to court the Aboriginal vote in Saskatchewan.
Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have controlled 13 of the province’s 14 seats for the past decade but strategists for both opposition parties believe things will be different this time around.
They say such things as voter fatigue after a decade of Conservative rule, the Harper government’s Senate scandals, the Prime Minister’s obsession with controlling information and fiscal mismanagement all indicate changes are on the horizon.
In particular, Liberal and NDP strategists say the Harper government’s ongoing disputes with Aboriginal people over education funding, business development on reserve land and fiscal transparency of First Nations bands means Aboriginal people will be looking to vote on October 19 and vote against the Conservatives.
Throw into the mix that Aboriginal people have the ability to influence the outcome of a few urban seats in Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert and, in particular, the northern riding and this should all add up to make for a very interesting election in Saskatchewan.
Both party leaders have also made stops in Saskatoon specifically focusing on Aboriginal issues.
On August 13, Justin Trudeau unveiled the Liberals’ promise to close the funding gap in First Nations education by $2.6 billion over four years and on August 31, Thomas Mulcair reiterated the NDP’s commitment to launch a national inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal within the first 100 days of forming government.
Not surprisingly, both parties have worked hard to recruit strong Indigenous candidates.
Former Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations leader Lawrence Joseph is running for the Liberals in the northern riding of Desnethé–Missinippi–Churchill River, human rights lawyer Lisa Abbott in Saskatoon-West and respected Indigenous academic Della Anaquod in Regina Qu’Appelle.
Saskatchewan resident Kevin Seesequasis is the male co-chair of the Liberal Party’s Aboriginal Peoples’ Commission.
He says the party has been working hard since the 2011 election to recruit as many Indigenous candidates as possible.
“We’ve been engaging across the country for the last three years. We began the process off right after the last election so I’ve been involved with the Aboriginal People’s Commission going coast to coast attending AFN (Assembly of First Nations) assemblies, getting into communities, helping in by-elections where there’s a strong Indigenous community. And really, individuals have been approaching us saying, ‘we want to be part of Team Trudeau.’”
Desnethé–Missinippi–Churchill River is perhaps the riding where either the Liberals or Conservatives have the best chance of unseating a Conservative incumbent.
Conservative MP Rob Clarke, who is also First Nations, has held the riding since 2008.
However, Clarke has managed to hold the northern riding by relying heavily on support from the largely non-Aboriginal southern communities in the constituency and low Indigenous voter turnout in the rest of the riding.
Nevertheless, in this election, this has now all changed due to boundary redistribution.
The bottom line of the constituency has now moved north making Desnethé–Missinippi–Churchill River an even more Aboriginal riding.
Lawrence Joseph actually ran for the NDP in the northern riding in the 2011 election.
He says his decision to run for the New Democrats in the last election had more to do with his great respect for the party’s late leader Jack Layton and his commitment to Indigenous issues than the actual party itself.
This time around, Joseph says he likes what the Liberals have to say on issues such as addressing the First Nations education-funding gap and truly believes Justin Trudeau is the best person to lead the country.
He adds he believes changes to the riding’s boundaries should work strongly in his favour.
“The realignment of boundaries was a big plus for that riding. Now 71 per cent is Indigenous and 25 per cent First Nations. A lot of Métis too – 17 per cent in total vote up there, I think. I think the benefit there is it (the constituency) is actually going to be concentrated on these voters versus before it was farmers – a mixture of people who I really don’t think belong economically and socially to that riding.”
For the first time, Saskatoon-West will be a solely urban riding, which should work to the advantage of either the Liberals or NDP as in the past the Conservatives have relied heavily on rural support to win the seat.
Liberal candidate Lisa Abbott admits her party and the NDP are engaged in a fierce competition for Indigenous votes.
However, she says she is convinced that most Aboriginal people will come around to the Trudeau Liberals because of policies like the party’s education plan.
Right now Abbott says she is focusing on trying to encourage as many of the riding’s roughly 20 per cent Indigenous people to come out to the polls on October 19.
“It’s only really the Liberal Party that has a clear plan for change and I think our platform is the best,” she says. “We can also thank Prime Minister Harper for being a very polarizing figure and a lot of people are wanting to vote in this election where they might not have in the past. So, the issue for me is not so much splitting the NDP vote as it is mobilizing and empowering First Nations and Métis people to get out and vote.”
The Regina Qu’appelle riding has seen some changes due to redistribution but it remains an urban-rural constituency.
In this seat Liberal candidate Della Anaquod is squaring off against longtime Conservative incumbent and House of Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer.
She says with the constituency being roughly 22 per cent Aboriginal, like Abbott, she is working to encourage Indigenous voters to get out to the polls and make them aware of some of the new voter identification rules.
Doing all of this in a very large geographic constituency does pose challenges, Anaquod says.
“Getting them out to ID clinics which is an issue in terms of that extra piece identification or hurdle or barrier you have to go through,” she says. “Getting them to register and vote and it’s a humungous territory to drive around.”
Long time La Loche Mayor Georgina Jolibois is running for the NDP in Desnethé–Missinippi–Churchill River and former Red Pheasant First Nation band councillor Sandra Arias in Battlefords-Lloydminster.
John Tzupa is the NDP’s regional director for Saskatchewan.
He says there are a number of reasons Aboriginal people should cast their ballots with the NDP in this election.
“First and foremost, we’re talking about building a nation to nation relationship with all Canada’s Indigenous Peoples – First Nations, Inuit and Métis. We will also consult and take action on the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, improve on-reserve housing, roads and drinking water, launch a national inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Tzupa also says the NDP is hoping to cash in on Aboriginal hostility to the Harper government’s controversial anti-terrorism legislation and the Liberals decision to support Bill C-51.
In the province’s northern riding, Georgina Jolibois says she hopes her years of experience in the constituency’s local politics will give her a leg up on both the Liberal and Conservative candidates.
She is also quick to point out neither Joseph nor Clarke actually live in the riding.
“How can they represent us with our issues if they don’t live with us and, in my opinion, they don’t understand what it’s like to live in northern Saskatchewan.”
NDP candidate Sandra Arias is trying to unseat Conservative Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz in Battlefords-Lloydminster which is a rural/urban riding.
Arias is a former band councillor with the Red Pheasant First Nation and currently works as director of operations at a Lloydminster-based law firm.
She says she is hearing a lot of hostility from Aboriginal people directed at the Harper government over various pieces of legislation such as the Conservatives’ anti-terrorism bill and the introduction of more stringent voter identification regulations.
She says there is a growing on the ground feeling within Indigenous communities that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives need to go.
This is why Arias is strongly urging all Aboriginal people to vote in the election.
This includes some people who may have never voted before because they say First Nations treaty relations with the Crown are nation-to-nation and this means voting in Canadian elections is similar to voting in a foreign election.
“I tell them we need to stand up and fight for our treaties in any way we can whether that is in our own communities, band governments or the Canadian government and that means voting in this election,” she says.
Whether or not Indigenous voter displeasure with the Harper government will transfer to actual ballots being cast on election day remains to be seen.
Typically Aboriginal people have tended not to participate in Canadian elections and more stringent voter identification rules that take effect in this campaign present yet another hurdle for many.
Nevertheless, Kevin Seesequasis says he has no doubt the Aboriginal voter turnout will increase on October 19.
“Everybody’s been working collectively and collaboratively to ensure Indigenous peoples have access to the right to vote and I’m quite certain that people have been motivated by Mr. Harper’s actions,” he says. “So, I think we certainly will see an increase in Indigenous participation in this 2015 federal election.”