Introduction
On May 20,
1999 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on the case of John Corbière
et al v. The Batchewana Indian Band in Northwestern Ontario and Her Majesty
the Queen (Canada). At issue was the constitutional validity of
the words ìand is ordinarily resident on the reserveî in
Section 77(1) of the Indian Act, which had the effect of prohibiting non-resident
Band Members from voting in Band Council elections held under the Indian
Act. The Supreme Court declared that the 7 words in Section 77(1)
were unconstitutional, because they discriminated against the equality
rights of non-resident band members by preventing them from voting.
The Supreme Court suspended the implementation of this decision for a
period of 18 months, to give the government time to consult with both
with on-reserve and off-reserve Indian band members, and to develop a
new electoral system. The suspension ends on November 20, 2000,
after which time all Indian bands holding elections under the Indian Act,
will be required to extend voting rights to band members living off-reserve.
In accordance
with the Supreme Courtís direction that there be consultation on
the matter, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
(DIAND) established a two-stage consultation process. Stage
1 of the consultation process (to which this report is a direct response),
focused on the affected regulations under the Indian Act - namely the
Indian Band Election Regulations and the Indian Referendum Regulations.
Of particular interest to DIAND at this stage are suggestions for amending
those regulations so that an electoral system can be created which will
meet the needs of band councils and band members residing both on and
off-reserve. Stage II of the consultation process will involve consultations
on the broader range of issues that are impacted by the courtís
decision.
As a means
of implementing the Stage I consultations, DIAND provided funding to a
number of Aboriginal organizations to enable them to consult directly
with their constituents. CAP established the CAP Corbière
Commission which held town hall type meetings or hearings at selected
locations across the country. The purpose of these meetings was
to talk to as many off-reserve status Indians as possible about the effects
of the Corbière decision. During the course of its commission
hearings CAP asked people to consider and respond to four key policy questions.
They are:
What
are your reasons for wanting to vote in the elections and referenda of
your band?
What
kinds of band decisions or issues do believe you should have the right
to vote on?
Are
there any band decisions or issues for which you feel it is not important
that you have the right to vote?
What
steps do you think your band should take to give you notice of upcoming
elections or referenda?
In
addition the Corbière Commission sought more specific input on
the band election and referendum regulations. The following are
some examples of the kinds of specific issues that CAP asked people to
think about:
Whether
registered Indian band members living off reserve can serve as chiefs
and councillors of their bands.
How
notices relating to referenda, elections and nomination meetings for elections
should be posted or distributed to persons living both on- and off-reserve.
Whether
or not polls should be held off- reserve, and the criteria to be used
to determine their number and location.
Whether
there should be traveling polls to obtain votes from members living in
local nursing homes.
Corrupt
election practices.
The
publishing and posting of voters' lists on- and off- reserve.
Appeals - who is entitled
to launch an appeal and what grounds should there be for launching an
appeal and investigation of appeals.
The CAP Corbière
Commission launched its hearings on March 31, 2000, with a conference held
jointly with the Native Womenís Association of Canada(NWAC) and the
Ontario Metis and Aboriginal Association (OMAA) as co-hosts.
Thereafter, the CAP Corbière Commission employed a variety of methods
for conducting regional consultations including:
meetings
co-hosted with a regional affiliate;
participation
by Commission representatives in meetings organized independently by regional
affiliates.
meetings at the regional
level hosted by the CAP Corbière Commission.
a national
meeting immediately prior to the CAP Annual General Assembly.
inviting
the submission of written positions papers.
Meeting size
and style varied, depending on circumstance. In some instances there
were large crowds of 150-200 participants and a conference format was used.
There were also workshop type meetings with 30-40 participants. In
addition there were focus group type meetings that enabled in-depth discussion
of the issues and involved from 5-20 participants. In all, CAP estimates
that approximately 450 people from across Canada participated in its Corbière
Commission consultations.
CAP found
the organization of this consultation process to be quite challenging,
given the very short timeframe and the limited financial resources.
While the DIAND used six months to decide on its two phase approach to
consultations, the Aboriginal organizations had less than four months
to actually develop, implement and report on the Phase I consultations.
This timeframe was much too short to enable proper planning and coordination
at the national and regional levels, or the ability to advertise in appropriate
venues. Cash flow problems, related to insufficient and delayed
receipt of funds, led to further difficulties. Consequently CAP
was unable to reach as many people as it would have liked to during the
course of these consultations.
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