Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence, wearing a headdress, takes part in a drum ceremony before departing a Ottawa hotel to attend a ceremonial meeting at Rideau Hall with Gov. Gen. David Johnston in Ottawa, Friday January 11, 2013.FRED CHARTRAND/The Canadian Press
The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples has urged the Attawapiskat First Nation to postpone band council elections until all members living off-reserve have a chance to vote.
The group, which represents aboriginal people living off-reserve, says it's unfair to people who live outside the remote northern Ontario community to have to cast their vote in person.
Despite the complaint, voting went ahead on Tuesday.
"My concern is how difficult it will be for those living off-reserve who want to vote, but are expected to cast their vote in person," Betty Ann Lavallee, the congress national chief, said in a statement. "It's not fair or reasonable that in the 21st century options like mail-in-ballots are not in place.
"I have always believed that the right to vote is a fundamental human right that cannot be denied to members of a community, who for some reason or another are living away from their reserve. This is unfair – it is wrong and it is against the law."
According to Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, the Attawapiskat First Nation has a total registered population of 3,472. Of that, 1,489 people – or about 43 per cent – live off-reserve.
The congress says a 1999 Supreme Court of Canada ruling requires all First Nations holding elections under the Indian Act to give people who live off-reserve the right to vote.
"For everyone's benefit and to ensure that election results are seen as credible, I ask for a postponement to allow for reasonable accommodation for members living off-reserve who want a say on how their community is run," Lavallee said.
A spokesman for Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence was not immediately available to comment.
Spence is seeking re-election after a turbulent tenure in which she gained notoriety for subsisting on only fish broth and tea for six weeks as a form of protest during the rise of the Idle No More movement.
The Idle No More cause, which began in December and January, was a protest against the Conservative government's omnibus Bill C-45.
First Nations groups claimed the bill threatened their treaty rights set out in the Constitution.
But Spence's protest also drew unfavourable attention to Attawapiskat with the release of a scathing audit of the band's books that found a missing paper trail for millions of dollars between 2005 and 2011.
The troubled reserve is widely known for the housing crisis that prompted a state of emergency in the winter of 2011 and set off lingering tensions with the federal government.
Flooding and sewer backups this spring again forced Attawapiskat into a state of emergency and forced the First Nation to evacuate its only hospital.