Review of Special Ballot System Français
GATINEAU, QC, May 14, 2025 /CNW/ - After an issue was reported with the return address of a special ballot envelope in the electoral district of Terrebonne during the 45th general election, an analysis was conducted confirming that there was an error on the label that was affixed to the envelope used for returning the special ballot to the local Elections Canada office. The error was in the last three characters of the postal code of the office's address. To date, only one case has come to our attention where an envelope containing a marked ballot was returned to a voter because of an incorrect address. A more detailed analysis was provided to candidates and political parties earlier today.
The Chief Electoral Officer, Stéphane Perrault, announced that he is broadening Elections Canada's review of the special ballot voting system which had been announced after a separate incident took place in the electoral district of Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam.
In recent general elections, special ballots were used to respond to an increased demand for voting services that meet the diverse needs of electors. A comprehensive review will allow Elections Canada to evaluate the training provided to employees and the controls that are in place for processing special ballots, with the intent to make improvements before the next general election.
"We must recognize that, with the evolution of the demand for special ballots, we need to make sure our supporting infrastructure and controls also evolve. One of the strengths of our system is that it does evolve over time to meet the changing needs of Canadians. This review is an opportunity to determine what needs to be improved to continue serving Canadians."
—Stéphane Perrault, Chief Electoral Officer
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Toronto Sun
35 minutes ago
- Toronto Sun
Poll suggests half of Canadians believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza
Published Jun 11, 2025 • 4 minute read Activists, heading towards Gaza by land with the aim of breaking the siege on the Palestinian territory, are greeted by Libyans in Tripoli's Martyrs Square on June 11, 2025, one day after crossing into Libya from Tunisia. Photo by MAHMUD TURKIA / AFP via Getty Images OTTAWA — A new poll suggests that nearly half of Canadians believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza almost two years after the current conflict began. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account In a survey conducted last weekend, the polling firm Leger asked Canadians and Americans a series of questions about the conflict in the Gaza Strip. Leger surveyed 1,511 Canadians and 1,011 Americans between June 6 and June 8. The poll cannot be assigned a margin of error because online surveys are not considered truly random samples. The polling comes as the federal government is under pressure to take concrete steps to condemn Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank. Leger asked respondents whether they 'agree or disagree that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip' based on how they 'define what constitutes a genocide.' The UN declared genocide a crime under international law in 1946. The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines it as acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. That can include killing members of the group, causing them serious injury, deliberately inflicting conditions that can be dangerous to their lives, imposing measures to prevent births within the group, or forcibly transferring children from the group to another group. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Just less than half of the Canadian respondents, 49 per cent, said they agree that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, including 23 per cent who said they strongly agree and 26 per cent who said they somewhat agree. Another 21 per cent said they disagree with the claim that Israel is committing genocide — 10 per cent said they somewhat disagree and 11 per cent said they strongly disagree. The remaining 30 per cent said they didn't know or refused to answer. Conservative supporters were the least likely to say they believe Israel is committing genocide, with 37 per cent agreeing with the statement and 33 per cent disagreeing. More than 60 per cent of Liberal, NDP, Green Party and Bloc Quebecois supporters said they agree Israel's actions amount to genocide. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The poll was conducted just days before the Canadian government took action against Israeli cabinet ministers it accuses of inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. RECOMMENDED VIDEO On Tuesday, a group of five countries including Canada announced sanctions against Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. The five countries accused the ministers of calling for the displacement of Palestinians and the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Last month, an open letter from Prime Minister Mark Carney, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Israeli military operations in Gaza and called the level of suffering in the territory 'intolerable.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The letter threatened concrete actions if the Israeli government did not allow more food aid into Gaza and end its military operations there. It also called on Hamas to release its remaining hostages. In response to the genocide question, 38 per cent of Americans polled said they agree Israel is committing genocide, while 26 per cent said they disagree and 36 per cent said they don't know. Supporters of the Democrats – 52 per cent – and Americans under the age of 35 – 53 per cent – were the most likely to call the situation in Gaza a genocide. More than half of Canadians, 54 per cent, said they don't follow news about the Middle East or the current conflict in the Gaza Strip. Just nine per cent said they're following news about the Gaza conflict very closely, and another 35 per cent said they're following somewhat closely. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. American respondents reported almost the same levels of engagement. Despite that, 49 per cent of Canadians and 54 per cent of American respondents said they feel they have a very good or fairly good understanding of the conflict in Gaza. Opinions on mainstream media reporting about the conflict were evenly split, with 20 per cent of Canadian respondents saying they feel the media has been 'generally balanced.' Another 20 per cent said they feel the coverage has been more favourable toward Palestinians and 21 per cent said it was more favourable to Israel. American respondents reported almost identical responses. Many Canadians surveyed were pessimistic about the possibility of a peaceful resolution. When asked whether they believe that lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians can be reached, 41 per cent of Canadian respondents said no, 28 per cent said yes and 31 per cent said they don't know. Canadian respondents over age 55 were the least optimistic _ 51 per cent of them said a lasting peace cannot be achieved. Americans were more evenly split, with 34 per cent saying they think peace is out of reach and 33 per cent saying it can be achieved. The polling industry's professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population. NHL Sunshine Girls Sunshine Girls Columnists NHL
Vancouver Sun
2 hours ago
- Vancouver Sun
Canadians reject that they live on 'stolen' Indigenous land, although new poll reveals a generational divide
A majority of Canadians reject the idea they live on stolen Indigenous land, and the older people are, the more likely they are to say they don't, according to a new public opinion poll. Among all respondents across Canada, 52 per cent said they did not live on stolen Indigenous land, with 27 per cent saying they do. The remaining 21 per cent said they didn't know or declined to answer. Notably, there was a significant generational divide among those who answered the national opinion survey , conducted by Leger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies and provided to Postmedia. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. More respondents in the youngest cohort, 18-to-24-year-olds, agreed they did live on stolen Indigenous land (41 per cent) than rejected the idea (37 per cent). That contrasts with those in the oldest age group of 65 years or older, who overwhelmingly said they did not live on stolen land (65 per cent) with only 15 per cent agreeing they did. In between them, the remaining age groups were on an unbroken sliding scale in their answers: the older they were the more likely they were to reject the statement they lived on stolen land, and, conversely, the younger they were the more likely they were to agree that they did. The sentiment rejecting the idea they live on stolen Indigenous land was a low majority regardless of the respondents' region in Canada, except for in Atlantic Canada, where most people still rejected the idea, but at a nationally low rate of 44 per cent, with 29 per cent of Atlantic respondents saying yes, they do live on stolen land. The type of land people live on also impacted their feelings on the issue. Canadians living in rural areas were the least likely to agree they live on stolen Indigenous land, with urban dwellers the most likely to agree. When asked to agree or disagree with the statement 'I live on stolen Indigenous land,' 56 per cent of respondents living in a rural area said they disagree, 24 per cent said they agree, and 20 per cent said they didn't know or didn't answer. For those living in a suburban area, 50 per cent said they disagree, 29 per cent said they agree, and 21 per cent didn't give an answer. For urban dwellers, 46 per cent disagreed, 34 per cent agreed and 20 per cent didn't answer. The city they live in also impacted opinions. Those living in Calgary were the most vociferous in rejecting that their land is 'stolen' among the cities named in the polling data. In Calgary, 69 per cent said no, 20 per cent said yes, and 11 per cent didn't answer. That differs sharply from those living in Edmonton, just 300 kilometres away in the same province, where respondents were the most amenable to the idea: 41 per cent said no, 32 per cent said yes, and 27 per cent didn't answer. Montrealers had the second most forceful rejection: 53 per cent said no, 26 per cent yes, and 21 per cent didn't answer. Next came those living in the Hamilton-Niagara peninsula, where 50 per cent said no, 27 per cent said yes, and 23 per cent didn't answer, followed by the greater Ottawa area with 50 per cent saying no, 35 per cent saying yes, and 15 per cent not answering; Vancouver was next, where 45 per cent said yes, 34 per cent said no, and 21 per cent didn't answer. In the Greater Toronto Area, 43 per cent said no, 30 per cent said yes, and 27 per cent didn't answer. A majority of respondents who are Indigenous (53 per cent) said they live on stolen Indigenous land, although more than one third of Indigenous respondents (36 per cent) said no. Homeowners are more likely to reject the belief they're living on stolen Indigenous land than renters (53 per cent said no compared to 42 per cent). Students (50 per cent) and the unemployed (37 per cent) are more likely to agree they live on stolen land than workers, with full-time workers (35) more likely to agree than part-time workers (30). Respondents who described themselves as non-immigrants are more likely to reject that they live on stolen land than those who identified as immigrants (51 per cent compared to 44 per cent). 'Most Canadians reject the idea that they live on stolen Indigenous lands,' said Jack Jedwab, president of the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies. 'This reflects not just a disagreement over language, but a deeper divide in how people view Canada's history — highlighting ongoing political conversations about land ownership and societal values. 'The findings also raise important questions about the impact of public land acknowledgments, particularly when they are made without genuine understanding or conviction…. The survey results suggest that requiring Canadians to publicly acknowledge they live on stolen Indigenous lands would imply that the majority does so without conviction.' The poll asking Canadians if they think they live on 'stolen' Indigenous land suggests it may be more palatable to use a different word: unceded. The term unceded has become popular in modern usage, particularly in land acknowledgements that are frequently read at the start of government meetings and official public gatherings. Even King Charles III in his recent throne speech in Ottawa began by saying: 'I would like to acknowledge that we are gathered on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg people. This land acknowledgement is a recognition of shared history as a nation.' There has been some pushback. In April professors launched a lawsuit against the at the University of British Columbia complaining that land acknowledgments saying the school is on 'unceded Indigenous' land violates legislation requiring universities to be non-political. The petition claims the word unceded 'is often considered synonymous or closely affiliated in meaning with the assertion that the territory of Canada is 'stolen land' and that the speaker, at least to some degree, and in this respect, does not recognize Canada as a lawful or legitimate state.' Compared to the 52 per cent who declared in the recent poll they did not live on 'stolen Indigenous land,' a 2021 survey found only 42 per cent of respondents rejected the statement that they live on 'unceded Indigenous territory.' 'Paradoxically, the push back on the word 'stolen' may reflect not indifference, but the weight and seriousness people associate with it, and what such acknowledgement might imply,' said Jedwab. 'Dismissing such views does little to advance issues that are highly relevant for the country's past and future.' The public opinion survey was conducted with 1,537 adult respondents in Canada from May 16 to 18. As a non-probability sample in a panel survey, traditional margins of error do not apply. • Email: ahumphreys@ | Twitter: AD_Humphreys Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
Calgary Herald
2 hours ago
- Calgary Herald
Canadians reject that they live on 'stolen' Indigenous land, although new poll reveals a generational divide
Article content A majority of Canadians reject the idea they live on stolen Indigenous land, and the older people are, the more likely they are to say they don't, according to a new public opinion poll. Article content Among all respondents across Canada, 52 per cent said they did not live on stolen Indigenous land, with 27 per cent saying they do. The remaining 21 per cent said they didn't know or declined to answer. Article content Article content Notably, there was a significant generational divide among those who answered the national opinion survey, conducted by Leger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies and provided to Postmedia. Article content Article content More respondents in the youngest cohort, 18-to-24-year-olds, agreed they did live on stolen Indigenous land (41 per cent) than rejected the idea (37 per cent). That contrasts with those in the oldest age group of 65 years or older, who overwhelmingly said they did not live on stolen land (65 per cent) with only 15 per cent agreeing they did. Article content In between them, the remaining age groups were on an unbroken sliding scale in their answers: the older they were the more likely they were to reject the statement they lived on stolen land, and, conversely, the younger they were the more likely they were to agree that they did. Article content The sentiment rejecting the idea they live on stolen Indigenous land was a low majority regardless of the respondents' region in Canada, except for in Atlantic Canada, where most people still rejected the idea, but at a nationally low rate of 44 per cent, with 29 per cent of Atlantic respondents saying yes, they do live on stolen land. Article content Article content The type of land people live on also impacted their feelings on the issue. Article content Article content Canadians living in rural areas were the least likely to agree they live on stolen Indigenous land, with urban dwellers the most likely to agree. Article content When asked to agree or disagree with the statement 'I live on stolen Indigenous land,' 56 per cent of respondents living in a rural area said they disagree, 24 per cent said they agree, and 20 per cent said they didn't know or didn't answer. For those living in a suburban area, 50 per cent said they disagree, 29 per cent said they agree, and 21 per cent didn't give an answer. For urban dwellers, 46 per cent disagreed, 34 per cent agreed and 20 per cent didn't answer.
