First Nations to Collaborate with ENS in Next General Election
Elections Nova Scotia’s Chief Electoral Officer and the Assembly of First Nations’ Regional
Chief have agreed to work together to enhance elections services offered on Reserve in the
next provincial general election.
Chief Electoral Officer Richard Temporale hopes the collaboration will be the first step
towards an unprecedented co-operation to improve elections services to First Nations people
in Canada.
“I am honoured that Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Morley Googoo has agreed to
co-sign letters with me, to each of his colleagues representing the thirteen bands in Nova
Scotia, urging them to commit to this initiative.”, says CEO Richard Temporale.
ENS intends to hire a Community Relations Officer (CRO) for each band to support the
initiative. Electors from within the local reserve community will be hired to fill the positions
required to be enumerators and election officers during the next general election. The CRO
will work with ENS and the local returning officer to ensure the list of electors used on their
Reserve is up to date and accurate, to identify suitable polling locations, and provide
feedback on the improvement of election services within each Reserve community.
This initiative hopes to capitalize on Elections Canada’s experience during the last federal
general election which saw a 14% increase in the number of registered electors living on
reserves who chose to vote. The evidence of the growing elector engagement among First
Nations people indicates this new initiative is well timed. Elections Nova Scotia welcomes
this opportunity to complement its mandate to provide fair and inclusive elections to all
electors throughout Nova Scotia regardless of where they live.
Media Contact: Andy LeBlanc
Director, Policy & Communications
902-424-3275
Andy.LeBlanc@novascotia.ca
