FSIN frustrated with voter turnout in election

SASKATOON Despite previous optimism, FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron said he was disappointed with Indigenous voter turnout in Saskatchewan.

Cameron previously said that considering the spike in First Nations voters in 2015 — from 50.2 per cent in 2011 to 67.1 per cent — he thought Indigenous voter engagement would be even higher in this year’s election.

However, leading up to Monday’s election, First Nations leaders said they were working to combat a perceived sense of disenchantment toward the federal campaign — especially considering Indigenous voters could make a difference in four of the province’s electoral ridings.

While Elections Canada has yet to release on-reserve voter numbers for 2019, results in the province’s largest riding work to support that idea.

In terms of representation, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) said 2019 was a record year nationally. Sixty-two candidates identified as First Nations, Metis or Inuit — up from the previous record of 54 in 2015.

Six ran in Saskatchewan, but none of the 10 elected nationwide were in the province; the NDP incumbent in Desnethé-missinippi-churchill River, Georgina Jolibois, lost her seat.

Addressing media on Wednesday, Cameron said he was less disappointed in the number of Indigenous MPS in the province and more by voter turnout.

“That just tells us in the next four years we’re going to have to ramp up our efforts to ensure we have a higher voter turnout.”

Of the province’s 14 federal electoral districts, four — Regina Qu’appelle, Desnethé-missinippi-churchill River, Regina-lewvan and Saskatoon West — were identified by the AFN as “priority districts,” where on-reserve voters could sway the outcome.

To qualify, the number of those voters according to the 2016 Census must be either larger than the margin of victory in the 2015 election, or within five per cent of the margin of victory and at least one per cent of the total eligible population in the district.

The potential effect of priority districts was less pronounced in Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer’s riding of Regina-qu’appelle, and in Regina-lewvan.

Both were won by the Conservatives by 16,706 and 12,393 votes, respectively.

Voter turnout in Desnethé-missinippi-churchill was among the lowest in the province, at 56.38 per cent.

More than 70 per cent of people in Desnethé-missinippi-churchill River are Indigenous, with an eligible First Nations voting population of 22,850.

NDP incumbent Jolibois and Liberal candidate Tammy Cook-season, both of whom are Indigenous, were up defeated by Conservative Gary Vidal. He drew 3,312 more votes than Jolibois.