rabble.ca Canadian federal election blog

Why I Won’t Vote

by Ben Powless

As talk of the elections fills cafes and cubicles across the country, I’ve been asked many times my thoughts on the elections, and who I’m voting for.

This tends to cause a little conflict when I inevitably respond that I don’t vote.

It’s not that I’m necessarily opposed to the voting system – though I think it makes a cruel joke of the word democracy.

And it’s not because I don’t see a difference in the candidates. Personally, I’m fearful of Harper and what he would do with a majority, and am committed to avoid that at all costs.

The reason is I simply do not consider myself a citizen of Canada. I may have been born within the ‘legal’ boundaries, but as a First Nations citizen, that is a boundary I refuse to accept, a country I refuse to sanction, with a government I refuse to take seriously

Our people (Onkwehonwe, or Mohawk) were violently forced to become citizens in 1924 after Canada failed to respect its international treaties and forcefully disbanded our government. This is one of the roots of the conflict that we today call Caledonia or Kahnansteton/the reclamation.

This is a continuing source of conflict that Canada will never be able to adequately resolve, because it violated its own law and international law, the story of this country’s foundations and continued existence, and a cruel reminder for our Native peoples in every coast.

‘So do you just give up?’ is the general sense of the next question. What? That voting is regarded as the only way to do anything is a sad reflection of the state of democracy, but that’s only what the candidates will tell you. This is a form of resistance by non-compliance. And I think we could all stand to have a democratic system that was actually reflective of what voters wanted, as I’m sure that would prevent Native rights being thrown out the window every time an oil and gas agreement is signed, as a start.

‘Then what to do?’ usually follows. And at this point I would encourage people to vote if they believe in it, and consider Indigenous Peoples when they do, but to become more engaged in the issue if they’re serious about it (and to start a revolution, if they’re fully committed). There’s a lot to be done. We all know that.

Later today (Monday) there will be a rally at parliament hill by a group called the Walk for Justice, who have walked to Ottawa from Vancouver to raise awareness of the over 500 missing and murdered Aboriginal women whose disappearance is rarely a second thought for the government. I hope their message travels far and wide throughout the country - we need justice to heal. More than election promises of trinkets and beads.

So until the Canadian government re-establishes our traditional nation-to-nation relationship and respects our rights, and Stephen Harper comes to all of  us to apologize, don’t look for me at the voting booth.