Elections Canada has it wrong on religious accommodation

Recently, an application was filed in Federal Court to prevent the 2019 federal election from being held on a religious holiday when observant Jews cannot vote. Far from being a singularly Jewish issue, the obstinacy of the Chief Electoral Officer should concern Canadians at large, as the repercussions could impact many other groups.

First, it is important to dispel the myth that this is a partisan effort. While both the individual applicants are Conservatives, the sense of alarm that observant Jews will be effectively disenfranchised in October is widespread within the community. Michael Levitt, the incumbent Liberal MP for York Centre, wrote to Elections Canada CEO Stéphane Perreault in April to ask for the same remedy, indicating that Elections Canada is defying a multi-partisan consensus on this issue.

The measures proposed so far by Elections Canada are wholly inadequate. The agency announced recently — seemingly in response to the application — that voting hours for advanced polls would be expanded.

However, this is of little comfort for observant Jews, since in addition to Oct. 21, Election Day, falling on a Jewish holiday, two of the four advanced voting days fall on a Jewish holiday or on the Sabbath, when writing, and hence voting, is strictly forbidden.

All of this is to say nothing about the plight of observant Jewish election volunteers and candidates, including Chani Aryeh-Bain, one of the two applicants. Marco Mendicino, the incumbent candidate running for re-election in the same riding as Aryeh-Bain, is of the opinion that an extra advanced polling day should be fully accessible for members of the observant Jewish community.

Of course, although Elections Canada admits that the current situation is “unfortunate,” it now shrugs its shoulders and says it’s too late for anything to be done.

This is hogwash, for two reasons. First, Elections Canada was aware of this problem long before the application, and had ample opportunity to fix it on a more comfortable timeline. Second, despite ongoing legal uncertainty and with fewer than three months to prepare, the City of Toronto recently managed to hold a perfectly orderly election.

It is absurd for Elections Canada to suggest, as it now does, that it cannot emulate Toronto’s adjustments on the fly last year — especially when all that is being requested here is a change of date, rather than a systemic change to the conduct of the election.

To make matters even clearer, Elections Canada has applicable precedent that it is refusing to follow. In 2007, Ontario’s provincial election was delayed due to a clash with the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret, the same one posing problems for this year’s federal vote.

Almost unbelievably, Perreault, faced with the exact same situation and with an identical provision of the Canada Elections Act, is refusing to take the same step, despite knowing that tens of thousands of additional voters Canada-wide will be affected.