Elections Canada

Elections Canada is an independent, non-partisan agency reporting directly to the Parliament of Canada. Its ongoing responsibility is to ensure that Canadians can exercise their choices in federal elections and referenda through an open and impartial process. Elections Canada was also responsible for administering the territorial elections in Yukon and Northwest Territories.

Mandate

Its responsibilities include:

* Making sure that all voters have access to the electoral system
* Informing citizens about the electoral system
* Maintaining the National Register of Electors
* Enforcing electoral legislation
* Training election officers
* Producing maps of electoral districts
* Registering political parties, electoral district associations, and third parties that engage in election advertising
* Administering the allowances paid to registered political parties
* Monitoring election spending by candidates, political parties and third parties
* Publishing financial information on political parties, electoral district associations, candidates, nomination contestants, leadership contestants and third parties
* Supporting the independent commissions responsible for adjusting the boundaries of federal electoral districts every ten years
* Reporting to Parliament on the administration of elections and referendums

The Canadian House of Commons appoints the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada to head the agency. The Chief Electoral Officer in turn appoints the Commissioner of Canada Elections, who ensures that the "Canada Elections Act" is enforced; and the Broadcasting Arbitrator, who allocates paid and free broadcasting time during electoral events. The Chief Electoral Officer is seconded by the Deputy Chief Electoral Officer and Chief Legal Counsel and a staff of some 330 representing five executive directorates. During an election, staff at Elections Canada headquarters increases to 600 and to approximately 190,000 across Canada.

Photo ID controversy

In September 2007, in response to a question from a Quebec journalist, Elections Canada Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand noted that under current legislation, Muslim women could retain their face coverings while balloting. Mayrand has informed voting administrators to request any woman in a niqab or burqa looking to vote to exhibit their faces in a "respectful and dignified manner." If they say no, they must write a declaration affirming their identity.

At present, Mayrand notes, elections law is "clear and unambiguous": electors may legally pick several alternate ways to vote, none of which necessitates photo identification. Voters without photo ID are not very odd, Mayrand mentioned. The law permits any voter to affirm their identity by showing two pieces of acceptable ID or letting another voter swear for their identity. He observed that around 80,000 electors voted by post in the previous national voting, with no requirement for photo ID.

"Mayrand declared he will not exploit his agency's exceptional crisis competence to alter the policy. He noted there has never been a difficulty with covered electors voters in the last 140 years of national elections.

Under legislation introduced in October 2007 by the minority Conservative government, Canadians will be permitted to cover their faces before balloting in a national election for reasons of health, but religious ones.

If passed, the law would compel a woman veiled for religious or cultural reasons to reveal her face before balloting, but the law would exempt a person with bandages covering facial wounds from surgery or industry, said Minister of Transport Lawrence Cannon.

The bill does not establish Harper's claim to better the visual identification of voters. Balloters are still not demanded to show photo identification to vote. Instead, they can offer two pieces of non-photo ID allowed by Elections Canada.

A permitted permutation is a debit card and a bank statement, which do not contain a photo, age or distinguishing characteristics. Another way of voting, showing your face while being vouched for by another voter, does not establish facial identification either. [http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/273143]

Even though Cannon stated the exemption for medical reasons separated the government draft law from a private member's bill tabled earlier by the Bloc Québécois, the separatist party claimed the Conservative Party of Canada introduced their own proposal for reasons of political competition in Quebec. The Liberal Party of Canada and the New Democratic Party (NDP) stated that the Bloc and the Tories were exploiting inflating the issue because of Quebec's fear of reasonable accommodation.

NDP Leader Jack Layton argued that the suggested changes were not the most important issue. He explained that there were a million people who were not able to even get enumerated for the voting list in rural communities and the North, for example.The question of the veils is not even an issue raised by the Muslim community, Layton clarified. [http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=52e2814c-aa8a-4043-9ae2-c213ea7719d9&k=88003]

Mayrand was criticized by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, while the House Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC) of Parliament asked that Mayrand retreat. Mayrand informed Members of Parliament (MPs) his decision was created to answer surprising difficulties in functional issues at the election stations, not to judge on the liberties of Canadians under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Mayrand challenged politicos who expressed their negative analysis of the tactics to permit hidden balloting, to amend the Elections Act if they desire more rigid identification necessities. He declared he would be violating the electoral law if he supported the desire of a House committee, and not Parliament as a whole, to push covered electors to reveal their faces. He further said that no party has introduced a legal ruling disproving his understanding of the law.

Mayrand said it is not the place of the manager to decide the contemporary social discussion, and that to do so would undertake a duty that does not correspond to the office and take over a role of Canada's members of Parliament. The Officer is, however, obliged to protect the constitutional right of freedom of religion of electors.

Mayrand voiced that the current law does not include a mandatory visual identification provision, despite informing Parliament about it in May, while the pertinent bill was before the Senate of Canada, and again in a conference call with representatives of the registered parties in July. Such an understanding of the law was also forwarded by a senior functionary from the Privy Council Office, which informs the Prime Minister himself on government matters.

Mayrand asked Parliament to clarify the issue of veiled voting because of media sensationalism, notably as part of the "reasonable accommodation" flap in Quebec. Bill C-31 [http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Docid=3066140&file=4] was passed in June 2007 by all parties in the Canadian House of Commons.

Sarah Elgazzar, a spokeswoman for the Canada Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Election Canada's adjustment for Muslims was never requested by them. Of the approximately 200,000 Muslims in Quebec, some 50 women wear the complete head covering, and they always remove it to identify their faces whenever asked.

The decision of a few hundred women across Canada to wear niqabs or burqas is a cultural decision, not a religious obligation, Muslims clarified.

Although Mayrand had good aims and was being considerate about veiled women, this attention has worsened Islamophobia, testified Alia Hogben, executive director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, before a Commons committee. She said it is misinterpreted into another incorrect instance of how Muslims are looking for reasonable accommodation, when actually the chaos is the effect of wrong recommendations of the law and its provisions.

Permitting those who sport niqabs or burqas to ballot without uncovering their faces could embolden some of the more extreme Islamists, suggested Salim Mansur, political science professor at the University of Western Ontario.

Sohail Raza, of the Muslim Canadian Congress accused Elections Canada of supporting Taliban ideology in regards to veiled women. Politicians were exploiting minorities for personal gain stated Raheed Raza of the Learning Forum.

While some MPs have articulated amazement at Mayrand's resistance, many also declare they have been influenced by the energy of his reasoning. Yvon Godin, a New Democratic party committee member who challenges the conclusion not to alter the policy, replied it is difficult to counter his judgment, saying "Maybe all parties should be kicking our own butts ... We could have fixed it ourselves."
New Democratic Party MP Pat Martin blamed the Conservative minority administration of leaping at the balloting topic to distract concentration from an examination into the governing group's voting account.

Elections Canada is denying to pay back the Conservatives for more than $1 million in what it affirms are illicitly demanded campaign payments. The party is opposing the conclusion in the legal system.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he "profoundly disagrees" with the regulation to permit Muslim women to elect with their faces veiled.

Harper claimed Elections Canada subverted the choice of Parliament by allowing women to envelop their faces at the ballot box, claiming the intention of MPs has been "very clear". He opined that it was a policy at variance with national electoral laws. He indicated that Parliament might act if Elections Canada did not bend.

Conservative Government House leader Peter Van Loan avoided questioning about the fact Mayrand notified Parliament, before the amendment passed, that it permitted covered women to ballot without revealing themselves. Elections Canada mentioned the point before all parties again in July.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion charged Harper with attempting to lessen the power of the Chief Electoral Officer.

Quebec Premier Jean Charest declared on a visit to a primary school, that he is against permitting Muslim women with burqas or niqabs to cover their faces covered while voting. The Chief Electoral Officer for Quebec ruled that revealing the face was required during the last provincial election. The issue became part of the reasonable accommodation debate.

In Ontario, with a concurrent election, photo identification is not a requirement, and the three main party leaders in the province trust the judgment of the province's Chief Electoral Officer.

The discussion about the recent voting stipulation just happens during readiness for three national by-elections in Quebec on 17 September 2007.

The Bloc Québécois petitioned the Elections Canada to reverse the decision for the by-elections, claiming they contradict "the spirit of the law" and that "you have to be able to see if the face in the ID is the same as the people in front of you."

Pierre F. Côté was Quebec's director-general of elections for 19 years and elicited the province's introduction of photo identification.

References

Election boss urged to relent in veil squabble [http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=5d94d78f-507f-4944-8853-8f818a3c8dc0]

Elections Canada boss won't back down over Muslim women's veils [http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=521ced2e-9b2c-4220-a041-f8738fd135fe&k=62008]

Elections Canada chief won't back down on veiled voting [http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/09/10/elections-veils.html?ref=rss]

Elections chief, Commons committee clash on veils [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070913/veil_committee_070913/20070913?hub=CTVNewsAt11]

Elections chief remains defiant [http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/National/2007/09/14/4495111-sun.html]

Elections chief stands up to House panel on veils [http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=60b6a4a0-9b8b-4ead-adf1-3d6656b95ede]

Electoral officer says he won't 'juggle' fundamental rights over veil issue [http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/09/13/mayrand-veil.html]

Harper slams Elections Canada ruling on veils [http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/09/09/harper-veil.html]

Harper still hoping for veil lift for voters [http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=ed2a797b-6323-4403-bb47-aff643292e08&k=8272]

'I don't make the laws' - elections chief on veil controversy [http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iUO90jlkATFI5DQlnTXt7505QA5Q]

Lifting the veil on a bogus issue: Voting ID issue exposes our real fears [http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/business/story.html?id=4fd5908b-18f5-4160-bfbb-151f0ddd33f2]

Mayrand, House committee clash over veils [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070914.wveil14/BNStory/National/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20070914.wveil14]

One law for one and all, consistently applied [http://www.thestar.com/columnists/article/256056]

Our parliamentarians dishonour themselves over veiled voting [http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=e3c1fb27-ed0a-4c89-b14f-82679b06e7b0]

Renewed call to bare faces rebuffed by election chief [http://www.thestar.com/News/article/256540]

Stubborn' Elections Canada blamed for veil controversy [http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/09/11/vanloan-election-veils.html]

THE CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER: Mayrand not aggressive or controversial, colleagues say [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070912.MAYRAND12/TPStory/National]

Ugly uproar over veils (Editorial) [http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/256843]

Voting law unveiled [http://thechronicleherald.ca/Editorial/858964.html]

ee also

*Elections in Canada
*Canadian federal election, 2006
*Canadian federal election, 2008

External links

* [http://www.elections.ca/home.asp Elections Canada website]
* [http://www.elections.ca/scripts/pss/FindED.aspx?L=e Federal electoral district locater]
* [http://www.elections.ca/intro.asp?section=fin&document=index&lang=e&textonly=false Elections Canada's election financing databases]
* [http://www.angus-reid.com/elections%5Fcanada/index.cfm? Canada Election 2006]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes/ CBC.ca - Canada Votes website]
* [http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Docid=3066140&file=4 Bill C-31]