On Monday we discussed the disenfranchisement of Asian Canadians under the Electoral Franchise Act of 1885, and yesterday’s post introduced the history of First Nations groups as it relates to suffrage in Canada. In the case of Aboriginal peoples, it was the Indian Act which prevented First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people from voting. Under the Indian Act, Aboriginal groups were wards of the state rather than Canadian citizens.[1] The reserve land upon which many First Nations lived was vested in the Crown rather than being owned by First Nations individuals. Due to property ownership being a criteria for voting eligibility, First Nations peoples were excluded.
If an Aboriginal man wished to qualify for the vote, he needed to apply for “enfranchisement”. In the context of the Indian Act, enfranchisement means removal of one’s categorization as a “Status Indian”, and granting citizenship equal to that of a British subject.[2] An Aboriginal man who applied for enfranchisement had to abandon his reserve rights, and would receive an allotment of reserve lands which would be subject to taxation.[3] If the sacrifice of leaving one’s home and culture was not a steep enough price, enfranchisement was also “dependent upon proof of literacy, education, morality and solvency. Consequently, the requirements for enfranchisement constituted discriminatory conditions imposed on Indians, preventing them from qualifying for the right to vote.”[4] If an enfranchised Aboriginal male did not meet the land qualifications necessary to vote, and most did not, then he was still unable to vote. Further, at the provincial level, enfranchised Aboriginal people were unable to vote in most provinces due to discriminatory provincial legislation which barred anyone with “Indian blood” from voting.[5]
In 1885 when the Electoral Franchise Act was created, there was a divide as to whether Aboriginal Peoples should receive the vote. One argument against granting the vote to “Status Indians” was tax-based: those living on reserves did not pay tax and therefore were not entitled to certain citizen rights, including the vote.[6] Another argument made by the Opposition Members in legislative debates was that Prime Minister Macdonald’s government wished to give the vote to Aboriginal Peoples simply so that they would support his government.[7] This fear was supported by the historical tendency for groups to vote en bloc (meaning the entire group will vote together) upon first receiving the right to vote. These arguments and others, such as that those who were under the government’s care did not deserve the vote, carried the day. The Electoral Franchise Act excluded:
Indians in Manitoba, British Columbia, Keewatin and the North-West Territories, and any Indian on any reserve elsewhere in Canada who is not in possession and occupation of a separate and distinct tract of land in such reserve, and whose improvements on such separate tract are not of the value of at least one hundred and fifty dollars, and who is not otherwise possessed of the qualifications entitling him to be registered on the list of voters under this Act.[8]
As seen above, the Métis were never barred from voting, because the population did not have “Indian status”. Being of a mixed ancestry of First Nations and French-European descent, “the Métis in Manitoba exercised the right to vote as far back as 1873, when they voted to elect Louis Riel to Parliament.”[9]
Unlike the fight for suffrage of immigrant populations and women, Aboriginal groups did not fight vigorously for the vote. In fact, there was opposition by First Nations peoples to the franchise because they already had systems of government in place, rendering the European-based government system redundant in their eyes.[10] Conforming to this new government system was a step towards assimilation which was not welcomed, especially in light of the fact that assimilation was already being forced upon Aboriginal groups in the spheres of education, work, culture and family.
In 1960 voting rights were finally extended to all Aboriginal groups at the federal level under the Act to Amend the Canada Elections Act.[11] This legislation was passed under the reign of Prime Minister Diefenbaker, who had long advocated for Aboriginal suffrage that did not forfeit Indian status.[12] Several provinces had already enfranchised Aboriginal groups provincially, but others were slow to follow. For example, in Alberta the provincial franchise was granted in 1965, and Quebec was the last province to do so in 1969.[13] However, “there were reports that Indians hesitated to exercise their right to vote for fear of weakening their claims to treaty rights and tax exemptions.”[14] Claims to treaty rights continue to this day in Canada, and the fear of exercising the right to vote is understandable in light of the overt discrimination in legislation which was in place only 56 years ago.
Aboriginal Peoples are still seeking recognition of their traditional systems of government, and the right to use them over the European-based system. Parliament has recently begun to acknowledge such traditional political institutions, but struggles to accommodate them into its own system.[15] The Aboriginal right to self-government reflects similar struggles for Aboriginal Peoples as those of suffragists in the fight for women’s enfranchisement 100 years ago.
[1] Heidi Bohaker & Franca Iacovetta, “Making Aboriginal People ‘Immigrants Too’: A Comparison of Citizenship Programs for Newcomers and Indigenous Peoples in Postwar Canada, 1940s–1960s” (2009) 90:3 Canada Historical Review 427 at 434 [Bohaker & Iacovetta]; The Indian Act, 1880, S.C. 1880, c. 28.
[2] Aboriginal People: History of Discriminatory Laws: http://publications.gc.ca/Collection-R/LoPBdP/BP/bp175-e.htm#(6)txt at s A [History of Discriminatory Laws].
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Bohaker & Iacovetta, supra note 1 at 454.
[7] Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada. A History of the Vote in Canada (Ottawa: Canadian Government Publishing, 1997) at 84 [A History of the Vote].
[8] The Electoral Franchise Act, SC 1885, c 40, ss 2, 11.
[9] A History of the Vote, supra note 7 at 85.
[10] Ibid at 84.
[11] History of Discriminatory Laws, supra note 2 at s A.
[12] A History of the Vote, supra note 7 at 86.
[13] History of Discriminatory Laws, supra note 2 at s A.
[14] Ibid.
[15] http://www.lop.parl.gc.ca/content/lop/researchpublications/962-e.htm.
