Unsuccessful Indigenous election candidates call for more support from urban First Nations people
Improving Indigenous representation has to start at the party level, says former Vancouver Coun. Andrea Reimer
A number of Indigenous candidates who ran unsuccessfully in Vancouver's recent municipal elections say more support and higher voter turnout from the urban First Nations population is needed to help get more Indigenous politicians into elected office.
"Indigenous people are at the forefront of a lot of the crises in Vancouver, whether that's housing, homelessness, poisoned drugs or the climate crisis," said Matthew Norris, who ran as a Vancouver council candidate with OneCity.
Norris, who is a member of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band and president of the Urban Native Youth Association, said there wasn't enough attention paid to Indigenous voters from other political parties and media during the provincewide municipal elections.
He fell short by more than 7,000 votes.
"We were missing Indigenous voices in this city during the last year ... so that was my incentive, to put my name forward to bring that perspective and experience into the dialogue," he said.
"We've seen a lack of attention to Indigenous rights ... and those concerns aren't going to go away."
'Big hurdle'
Chris Livingstone, a Nisga'a member who ran as a candidate for the Vancouver Park Board with COPE, says many Indigenous people feel skeptical about voting.
"The way that I used to feel when I was younger was that a vote for anybody is a vote for your killer or a person that's trying to hold you down ... so that's a big hurdle," Livingstone told CBC News.
"Within the historical context, we've looked at institutions ... and most of these social systems as being bent on destroying us."
WATCH | Former city council candidate talks about importance of having Indigenous politicians:
Andrea Reimer, a former Vancouver councillor with Métis and Cree ancestry, says improving Indigenous representation has to start at the party level.
"I think we have to make it clear that you are not a serious party if you are not running Indigenous people," said Reimer.
She also called for support from communities and media.
"I think we as an Indigenous community need to stand up and support those people. We need media to show us stories about Indigenous people who are leaders and we need to keep doing the hard work."
Success on school boards and council
Indigenous candidates weren't completely shut out in local government elections.
Successful candidates included Leslie Dickie of the Kawkutl First Nation, who was elected to council in Fort Nelson; Garrett Milsap, who identifies as Métis and was elected to council in West Kelowna; and Daniel Fontaine, former CEO of Métis Nation British Columbia, who was elected to council in New Westminster.
And for the first time in its 130-year history, Burnaby will have an Indigenous politician serving in elected office after Mikelle Saskamoose won a seat on the school board.
Saskamoose, who is Syilx, Cree and Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc, said her family history, which includes relatives who were taken to residential school and her childhood in a reserve outside of Kamloops, was a part of her decision to run for school board.
"My dad went to day school. My grandpa went to residential school, and I know my aunts, uncles and cousins went to residential school."
She said as a mother with two daughters at a public school in Burnaby, she worried about their experience at school as Indigenous students and wanted to run for elected office to "fight systemic racism."
"I think the people in Burnaby overwhelming demonstrated through their votes that they support diversity, equity and inclusion and together we made history."
Elsewhere, Erica McLean topped the polls in the race for school board in Prince George.
McLean, a former Indigenous education worker who identifies at Gitxsan and Tsimshian, said she feels a "great deal of responsibility" entering her new job.
She resigned from her position with the school district last year after a provincial report found "clearly discriminatory and systemically racist" practices within the city's schools.
McLean said one of her top priorities would be creating a more inclusive environment.
"Having grown up on the rez... [I have] a different perspective," she said. "My goal is to really dive deep into those conversations."
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With files from Wawmeesh Hamilton