Burnaby’s homeless population will have a tougher time voting, now that the Conservatives’ Fair Election Act has gone through, according to a local advocate.
The act makes changes to the way federal elections are conducted, and people will no longer be able to vouch for those who don’t have proper identification.
Wanda Mulholland, the community development coordinator for the Burnaby Task Force on Homelessness, said the changes exclude homeless people from society.
“It’s another way of ostracizing people from the rights of mainstream society, because if someone is extremely poor and homeless and without ID, they are unable to vote as a citizen,” she told the NOW.
Advocates for the homeless use an attestation form to vouch for people who don’t have proper identification, Mulholland explained.
“We’ve used it a lot, and we’ve used in the municipal, federal and provincial election,” she said.
Mulholland couldn’t say how many homeless Burnaby residents have been using the forms to vote.
“It varies from one election to the other, but it’s certainly been something that has been offered and received by people each time,” she said.
Burnaby MP Kennedy Stewart said the Fair Elections Act is currently in committee, and while the NDP has tried to stall the Conservatives, the vote to make the act law will likely be this week or early next week.
“We’re doing everything we can to stop it, but they’re ramming it through,” Stewart said.
According to Stewart, the chief electoral officer is estimating 100,000 Canadians will be affected by the new rules.
