Latest news with #StephanePerrault
Vancouver Sun
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Vancouver Sun
Elections Canada to investigate voting barriers in Nunavik
MONTREAL — Elections Canada says it will investigate 'shortcomings' that prevented some people in Nunavik from casting their vote in Monday's federal election. Article content Article content In a statement Wednesday, chief electoral officer Stephane Perrault apologized to residents of the northern region of Quebec, which is the homeland of Inuit in the province. Article content 'I deeply regret that some electors in Nunavik were not able to cast their vote,' he said. 'Over the last three years, Elections Canada has engaged with Indigenous communities across the country and made it a priority to remove barriers and improve voting services for Indigenous electors. Nevertheless, the shortcomings of our services in Nunavik during the general election underscore the importance of the work that remains.' Article content Article content Perrault said the agency will 'review the circumstances that led to this situation,' and will publish its findings. Article content Article content Mandy Gull-Masty, the newly elected Liberal MP for the riding of Abitibi–Baie–James–Nunavik–Eeyou, said she's hearing 'a lot of disappointment and a lot of outrage' from her constituents. Article content She pointed to the fact that voter turnout tends to be lower in Indigenous communities. 'Maybe we need to ask ourselves, 'Why is that?'' she said. 'Is it because they're not participating or they're not receiving the service to participate?' Article content Gull-Masty said her understanding is that Elections Canada officials were present in Nunavik communities during the advance polling days over the Easter long weekend, trying to recruit community members to run voting stations on election day. But she said many people were out on the land over the holiday weekend. Article content Article content As a result, she said, several communities were served by teams that flew in to oversee the vote on April 28. Weather conditions then forced them to fly out early, she said, meaning some polling stations closed unexpectedly as early as 2:30 p.m. Article content Article content Gull-Masty said Elections Canada should start recruiting local poll workers as soon as an election is called. She also said the agency needs to employ more Indigenous language speakers. Article content Still, she said people contacted her on election day to say they had planned to vote for her but had been unable to cast their ballots. 'I was very stressed out because it's election day, but I was more stressed out knowing that so many of my supporters were not offered the opportunity to vote for me,' she said.
Calgary Herald
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Calgary Herald
Elections Canada to investigate voting barriers in Nunavik
MONTREAL — Elections Canada says it will investigate 'shortcomings' that prevented some people in Nunavik from casting their vote in Monday's federal election. Article content Article content In a statement Wednesday, chief electoral officer Stephane Perrault apologized to residents of the northern region of Quebec, which is the homeland of Inuit in the province. Article content 'I deeply regret that some electors in Nunavik were not able to cast their vote,' he said. 'Over the last three years, Elections Canada has engaged with Indigenous communities across the country and made it a priority to remove barriers and improve voting services for Indigenous electors. Nevertheless, the shortcomings of our services in Nunavik during the general election underscore the importance of the work that remains.' Article content Article content Perrault said the agency will 'review the circumstances that led to this situation,' and will publish its findings. Article content Article content Mandy Gull-Masty, the newly elected Liberal MP for the riding of Abitibi–Baie–James–Nunavik–Eeyou, said she's hearing 'a lot of disappointment and a lot of outrage' from her constituents. She pointed to the fact that voter turnout tends to be lower in Indigenous communities. 'Maybe we need to ask ourselves, 'Why is that?'' she said. 'Is it because they're not participating or they're not receiving the service to participate?' Article content Gull-Masty said her understanding is that Elections Canada officials were present in Nunavik communities during the advance polling days over the Easter long weekend, trying to recruit community members to run voting stations on election day. But she said many people were out on the land over the holiday weekend. Article content Article content As a result, she said, several communities were served by teams that flew in to oversee the vote on April 28. Weather conditions then forced them to fly out early, she said, meaning some polling stations closed unexpectedly as early as 2:30 p.m. Article content Article content Gull-Masty said Elections Canada should start recruiting local poll workers as soon as an election is called. She also said the agency needs to employ more Indigenous language speakers. Article content Still, she said people contacted her on election day to say they had planned to vote for her but had been unable to cast their ballots. 'I was very stressed out because it's election day, but I was more stressed out knowing that so many of my supporters were not offered the opportunity to vote for me,' she said.
Edmonton Journal
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Edmonton Journal
Elections Canada to investigate voting barriers in Nunavik
Article content MONTREAL — Elections Canada says it will investigate 'shortcomings' that prevented some people in Nunavik from casting their vote in Monday's federal election. In a statement Wednesday, chief electoral officer Stephane Perrault apologized to residents of the northern region of Quebec, which is the homeland of Inuit in the province. 'I deeply regret that some electors in Nunavik were not able to cast their vote,' he said. 'Over the last three years, Elections Canada has engaged with Indigenous communities across the country and made it a priority to remove barriers and improve voting services for Indigenous electors. Nevertheless, the shortcomings of our services in Nunavik during the general election underscore the importance of the work that remains.'
National Post
01-05-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Elections Canada to investigate voting barriers in Nunavik
MONTREAL — Elections Canada says it will investigate 'shortcomings' that prevented some people in Nunavik from casting their vote in Monday's federal election. Article content In a statement Wednesday, chief electoral officer Stephane Perrault apologized to residents of the northern region of Quebec, which is the homeland of Inuit in the province. Article content 'I deeply regret that some electors in Nunavik were not able to cast their vote,' he said. 'Over the last three years, Elections Canada has engaged with Indigenous communities across the country and made it a priority to remove barriers and improve voting services for Indigenous electors. Nevertheless, the shortcomings of our services in Nunavik during the general election underscore the importance of the work that remains.' Article content Article content Perrault said the agency will 'review the circumstances that led to this situation,' and will publish its findings. Article content Article content Mandy Gull-Masty, the newly elected Liberal MP for the riding of Abitibi–Baie–James–Nunavik–Eeyou, said she's hearing 'a lot of disappointment and a lot of outrage' from her constituents. She pointed to the fact that voter turnout tends to be lower in Indigenous communities. 'Maybe we need to ask ourselves, 'Why is that?'' she said. 'Is it because they're not participating or they're not receiving the service to participate?' Article content Gull-Masty said her understanding is that Elections Canada officials were present in Nunavik communities during the advance polling days over the Easter long weekend, trying to recruit community members to run voting stations on election day. But she said many people were out on the land over the holiday weekend. Article content Article content As a result, she said, several communities were served by teams that flew in to oversee the vote on April 28. Weather conditions then forced them to fly out early, she said, meaning some polling stations closed unexpectedly as early as 2:30 p.m. Article content Article content Gull-Masty said Elections Canada should start recruiting local poll workers as soon as an election is called. She also said the agency needs to employ more Indigenous language speakers. Article content Still, she said people contacted her on election day to say they had planned to vote for her but had been unable to cast their ballots. 'I was very stressed out because it's election day, but I was more stressed out knowing that so many of my supporters were not offered the opportunity to vote for me,' she said. Article content On Tuesday, Makivvik, the organization representing Quebec Inuit, said it was 'deeply disappointed' by how the vote was handled in Nunavik, and called on Elections Canada to investigate.
CBC
24-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Elections Canada has been in touch with social media platforms about election misinformation
Social Sharing The head of Elections Canada says he has been in touch with social media platforms in an effort to address concerns about misinformation as Canada wades into an election campaign. Chief Electoral Officer Stephane Perrault told reporters on Monday that he has reached out to social media sites such as X and TikTok to "seek their support to making this election a secure election." He said he has been satisfied with the response so far. "We'll see what action actually takes place during the election. Hopefully they won't have to intervene, but if there are issues, hopefully they will be true to their word," he said. Perrault said he would make his communication and the response from the platforms public. TikTok, whose parent company is Chinese-owned, said in a news release on Sunday that it is "shoring up our efforts to safeguard the TikTok platform during Canada's federal election season." "[There are] several ways we do this — including that we protect the integrity of elections by removing harmful misinformation about civic and electoral processes, partnering with fact-checkers to assess the accuracy of content, and labeling claims that can't be verified," the statement said. Perrault cautioned Canadians to be on the lookout for bad information about the voting process in general. "I encourage Canadians to use Elections Canada as the authoritative source of information about the federal electoral process," he told reporters in French on Monday. "I also encourage Canadians not to let their social media feed dictate what they read." The agency is launching a new online tool — dubbed "ElectoFacts" — that lists and debunks inaccurate information that is swirling online. Foreign interference in Canadian democracy has been top of mind in recent years, culminating in a 16-month public inquiry into the matter. Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue issued a report in January that stated foreign interference hasn't determined the outcome of previous elections. But Hogue wrote that the biggest threat to Canadian democracy is the spread of misinformation and disinformation in the media and on social networks. "In my view it is no exaggeration to say that at this juncture, information manipulation (whether foreign or not) poses the single biggest risk to our democracy," she wrote. "It is an existential threat." Perrault said voters can report misinformation to Elections Canada.
