Still no resolution, after First Nations polling stations ran out of ballots
Posted Oct 23, 2015 7:22 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Siksika First Nation’s Chief is hoping there will be some kind of follow-up or investigation after their polling station was one of several to reportedly run out of ballots Monday.
Many people felt like they were turned away at the door.
The Siksika was just one of six polling stations that ran out of ballots in First Nation communities across the country.
To Chief Vincent Yellow Old Woman that’s unacceptable.
According to Yellow Old Woman they were given 400 ballots; Siksika has 7,000 eligible voters and 4,200 showed up to vote.
“Nobody was happy when they ran out, and certainly it was upsetting and so, it’s uncalled for,” he said.
Yellow Old Woman doesn’t buy the response 660 NEWS received from a spokesperson with Elections Canada that they were only out for 15 minutes.
Elections Canada still hasn’t responded to our request for an official interview.
Meanwhile, many stakeholders are crediting the success of the First Nations turnout to ‘Rock the Indigenous Vote’.
Organizer Cara Currie-Hall says there is a broken relationship between First Nations people and the government.
“It was really time to take back and push back and they recognize that their opportunity within a federal election to be able to vote and change the government and change that sort of a relationship is right now,” she said.
Currie-Hall says they saw long lines at polls on reservations across the country.
