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THE HISTORY OF THE VOTE IN CANADA

(OTTAWA, Thursday, October 26, 2000) — Some 20 million Canadians will be eligible to vote in the federal general election on Monday, November 27, 2000. That includes virtually every Canadian citizen who will be 18 or older on election day.

Nowadays, the legislation excludes very few people from the right to vote – and these exclusions are relatively unknown. At the time of Confederation, the reverse was true: only a small minority of the population could vote. The establishment of universal suffrage in Canada was a very gradual process. Here are the milestones in that process.

1867
At the first general election after Confederation, only males over the age of 21 who met certain property qualifications were eligible to vote and run as candidates in a federal election. Women, registered Indians and members of certain religious denominations were excluded. In those days, the right to vote, even in federal elections, was governed by provincial, not federal, legislation. Some groups, such as immigrants from Japan, China and India, were not allowed to vote in some provinces.

1885
Parliament adopted a complex federal franchise act based on property. The act was applied differently from one town and one province to the next. Some Aboriginal people acquired the right to vote, depending on where in the country they lived.

1917
During the First World War, Parliament adopted the Wartime Elections Act and the Military Voters Act. While the conscription debate raged, the vote was extended to all British subjects, male and female, who were active or retired members of the armed forces, including Indians and people under the age of 21. Civilian men who did not meet the property qualification but who had a son or grandson in the army were temporarily given the right to vote, as were women with a father, mother, husband, son, daughter, brother or sister who was serving or had served in the army. At the election of December 1917, some 2 000 military nurses became the first Canadian women to vote in a federal election.

1918
The right to vote at the federal level was extended to all Canadian women 21 and over who were native-born and satisfied any relevant property qualifications. The following year, women obtained the right to run for a seat in the House of Commons.

1920
The federal election legislation was amended to institute universal suffrage for men and women irrespective of provincial legislation. British subjects by birth or naturalization were now entitled to vote, although some foreign-born citizens continued to be excluded until 1922. The election of 1921 was the first in which the number of people registered on the voters lists represented more than 50 percent of the population.

1948
The last vestiges of the property qualification, which still applied in Quebec, were abolished. Canadians of Asian origin acquired the right to vote.

1950
A provision preventing the Inuit from voting, first introduced in 1934, was abolished.

1960
A new Canada Elections Act eliminated the provision excluding registered Indians living on reserves from the vote. The right to vote at the advance polls was extended to all electors who expected to be away from their polling divisions on election day.

1970
The minimum age to vote or stand for office was lowered from 21 to 18. The right to vote was reserved for Canadian citizens, but British subjects eligible to vote on June 25, 1968, retained the right to vote until 1975. Proxy voting was also introduced for fishermen, seamen, prospectors and students away from their electoral districts. People with disabilities were given the option of voting at an advance poll.

1982
The new Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms entrenched in the Constitution the right of all Canadian citizens to vote and stand for office. The Canada Elections Act stipulated that anyone who had reached the age of 18 on election day was eligible to vote.

1988
As a result of two court rulings, federally appointed judges and people with a mental disability obtained the right to vote.

1993
Parliament adopted legislation allowing Canadians to use the special ballot if they were not able to go to the polling station. Students living outside their electoral districts, people on vacation, business people and people temporarily outside the country could now exercise their right to vote.

2000
Virtually all Canadian citizens who are 18 or over are eligible to vote. Exclusions continue to apply to those responsible for conducting electoral events: the Chief Electoral Officer and the Assistant Chief Electoral Officer. In addition, as the Federal Court of Appeal confirmed on October 21, 1999, inmates serving sentences of two years or more are not eligible to vote. At the last federal general election, on June 2, 1997, almost 20 million Canadians were eligible to vote.

Elections Canada has published a well-illustrated work on the evolution of the federal electoral process, entitled A History of the Vote in Canada. The book is available at bookstores and can be ordered from Canadian Government Publishing – PWGSC, Ottawa, Ontario K1A  0S9 (catalogue SE3-36-1997E).

An Internet module outlining, and illustrating, the key steps in the evolution of the vote was developed in co-operation with the Canadian Museum of Civilization. It can be opened from the Elections Canada Web site (www.elections.ca), in the "General Information" section.

Elections Canada is the non-partisan agency responsible for the conduct of federal elections and referendums.