Debate tonight aims to boost Indigenous voter turnout in Quebec election

On May 2, 1969, Quebec became the last province in Canada to give Indigenous peoples the right to vote. 

Now, more than 53 years later and with a provincial election campaign in full swing, some observers say so much more could — and should — be done to increase voter participation in the North and among Indigenous voters living in the cities. 

"For many Indigenous nations it's a debate of another nation," said Alexis Wawanoloath, who in 2007 became the first and only Indigenous person elected since 1969 to Quebec's National Assembly, when he won for the Parti Québécois in Abitibi-Est. 

The Assembly of First Nations Quebec Labrador (AFNQL) is organizing a debate Tuesday night to try and convince more Indigenous voters to engage with this provincial election.

 "It is essential that relations with First Nations be on the agenda," said  Ghislain Picard, head of the AFNQL, in a release.

"We cannot afford another four years in the same spot and even taking steps back on various issues that affect us. Quebec is lagging behind in Indigenous matters and must do better."

Observers like Wawanoloath and Bill Namagoose, executive director of the Cree Nation government, say politicians and parties need to do a much better job of making them care. 

"When Indigenous peoples' issues are on the ballot, they will participate, but if they're not, they won't, they'll stay away," said Namagoose. 

In 2018, voter participation in the northern Quebec riding of Ungava, for example, was just over 30 per cent, less than half what it was in the rest of the province, according to Elections Quebec and close to 16 per cent lower than the second to last place riding of D'arcy-McGee.

And a closer dive into the numbers shows that in Indigenous communities in Ungava, participation was even lower. 

In the largest Cree community of Chisasibi, for example, voter turnout was just 8.6 per cent on election day. In Kuujjuaq, the largest community in Nunavik, it was 18.7 per cent on election day and that was with an Inuk candidate running. (Voting results in advanced polls are not included in these numbers, as Elections Quebec doesn't keep track of these numbers by community).

So how to change that and increase voter participation? 

There are a record number of nine Indigenous candidates running in this provincial election, including two in the riding of Ungava. Maïtée Labrecque-Saganash, from the Cree community of Waswanipi, is running for Quebec Solidaire and Tunu Napartuk, from Nunavik, is running for the Quebec Liberals. 

That will translate into a higher voter turnout, according to Wawanoloath.