Elections Nova Scotia has reached out to the regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations.
They want to make voting easier for people living on Reserve during the next general election.
Morely Googoo says many people in their community look to chief and council to be a full service government instead of participating in elections.
“We handle education, we handle policing, housing, social assistance and all those areas.”
Googoo says the key to getting more first nations people to vote is to show them their voices matter.
Meanwhile, Elections Nova Scotia has noticed a 14% increase in voter turn out among people living on reserve.
It’s a trend they’re hoping to capitalize on by starting initiatives in First Nations communities to remove some of the obstacles to vote.
Spokesperson Andy Leblanc says they’re hiring a community relations officer to be placed in each of the 13 reserve communities in the province.
“So there’s someone in that community who’s from that community…knows the neighborhood because it’s their neighborhood and knows exactly what is needed.”
He says they won’t be receiving any more funds from the province but felt this needed to be a priority ahead of the next provincial election.
He says the first step will be making sure the voter list is as accurate as possible.
