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Electoral Participation of Aboriginals in Canada

"The vote of every person in every community can make
a difference – it is up to you to make yours count."Footnote 1

Phil Fontaine
National Chief
Assembly of First Nations

Introduction

In the weeks leading up to the October 2008 federal election the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) undertook a campaign to address the issue of the low voter turnout among First Nations. Expanding on initiatives begun in 2006, the AFN has committed itself to

increasing the number of its members who vote in federal and provincial elections. Some gains have been made. Voter turnout among on-reserve Aboriginals for the 2006 federal election increased by 8% over the previous election, "due, in part, to the fact that the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and Elections Canada jointly implemented a First Nations voter awareness and education campaign in 2005–2006" under the leadership of Phil Fontaine.Footnote 2

These initiatives mark an important change in direction for the AFN. Previous National Chiefs, notably George Erasmus and Ovide Mercredi, focussed more on pursuing nation-to-nation negotiations, trying to establish modalities for greater autonomy for First Nations communities in the context of treaties. As Alan Cairns pointed out, "[s]elf-government has a higher priority for the AFN than participation in elections... [T]he heady wine of Aboriginal nationalism and the inherent right to self-government" is more exciting than the "more humdrum business of elections for minority Aboriginal populations" (2003, 7). Indeed, Cairns went on to argue that issues of self-government as an inherent right of all sovereign indigenous nations and of the electoral participation of Aboriginal persons may be in contradiction (2003, 6). At the very least there is a tension between the integrating function of electoral participation, and the separation between Aboriginal communities and the rest of Canada that is implied in the self-government initiatives. In the end Cairns does not think the two irreconcilable, if for no other than the prudent reason that "[e]ven the most generous self-government arrangement will leave hugely important policy areas beyond their grasp," (2003, 7) and, hence, presumably open to greater influence and input as the voter participation rate among Aboriginal persons increases.Footnote 3

With this increased recognition of the importance of Aboriginal electoral participation, researchers have started to study the topic more closely in the past decade. Empirical studies produced to date have certain limitations, however, tend to rely on either administrative data (to measure Aboriginal turnout levels) or qualitative methods with small samples (to assess factors that influence Aboriginal participation). This paper utilizes a different methodology, drawing on a large national survey from 2003 which included a wide range of questions relevant to electoral participation and drew upon a total sample size of 25,000, including more than 700 Aboriginal respondents. The analysis we present below addresses important gaps in our current understanding of Aboriginal voter participation and allows us to assess some of the prevailing assumptions in the existing literature.

Footnote 1 afn.ca/elections08/EAHB.pdf

Footnote 2 afn.ca/elections08/EAHB.pdf. See also AFN ECHO, Vol. 2, No. 5, 2005 "In December 2004, the chiefs passed Resolution 89/2004 and called on the Assembly of First Nations to pursue a dialogue with the appropriate parties regarding an education or awareness campaign for First Nations people about the significance of Voting" (p. 6), http://www.afn.ca/cmslib/general/EchoVol2No5.pdf.

Footnote 3 It is generally accepted in the literature that greater voter participation by a group means that they will have greater influence on subsequent government decisions (Lijphart 1997). See also Silver et al 2005, which summarizes some key literature.