First Nations Canadidacy and On-Reserve Voting in Manitoba

First Nations Canadidacy and On-Reserve Voting in Manitoba: A Research Note

Loleel Berdahl, University of Saskatchewan; Christopher Adams, University of Winnipeg; Greg Poelzer, University of Saskatchewan

June 2011

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This study aims to expand scholarly interest in the still nascent topic of Aboriginal political engagement in Canada. In recent years greater attention has been paid to the number of Aboriginal candidates running for major political parties at the provincial and federal levels, with questions raised about the potential effect of Aboriginal candidacy on turnout and vote choice. This paper provides an examination into the relationship between Aboriginal candidacy and voting behaviour using the 2007 Manitoba provincial election as a case study. Essentially, we ask: “Does the presence of First Nations candidates appear to influence on reserve voting behaviour?”