To Vote or Not To Vote

September 14, 2015

Indigenous people may have the numbers to make a big impact in Canada’s next federal election, but does voting threaten Indigenous sovereignty?

Dr. Pam Palmater is a Mi’kmaq Mother of two sons from the Eel River Bar First Nation in northern New Brunswick. Pam has worked extensively in the areas of law, academia, activism and politics.  She is a member of the Law Society of New Brunswick, the Canadian Bar Association, the Ontario Bar Association and the Indigenous Bar Association. Currently, she is an Associate Professor and Chair of Ryerson University's Centre for Indigenous Governance in Toronto.

Dr. Rob Innes is a Plains Cree member of the Cowessess First Nation. He is author of the book Elder Brother and the Law of the People, in which he reveals how tradition-inspired practices involving “Elder Brother” stories, act to undermine legal and scholarly definitions of “Indian” and counter the perception that First Nations people have internalized such classifications. He is an Assistant Professor and Graduate Chair at the Indigenous Studies Department, University of Saskatchewan

Leah Gazan is a member of Wood Mountain Lakota Nation, located in Treaty number 4 in the Province of Saskatchewan. She teaches in the Faculty of Education at the University of Winnipeg where she holds the title of Coordinator of Special Projects. Leah is currently serving as the President of the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, and on the Board of Governors at Red River College.