KENORA — Despite their loss in the riding, Kenora-Kiiwetinoong candidates from the Liberal and New Democratic parties hope that their message is clear to the vast Indigenous population across the riding: that their voices matter, especially those of Indigenous youth.
Charles Fox, candidate for the Liberal Party of Canada who won nearly 35 per cent of votes in the riding, hails from Bearskin Lake First Nation. He hopes his relatively short campaign helped inspire Indigenous youth to take part in elections and to let their voices be heard.
“Our youth of Indigenous decent, I want to get them involved as much as possible in provincial and federal elections because we haven’t participated as much as we should. Only about 30 to 35 per cent vote and if we can double that, that would be awesome,” said Fox.
He said it was challenging running a campaign in so little time but he wants to impart a legacy of doing better for Indigenous people He feels there is a lot of potential for strong partnerships across all industries in the region.
“This riding has so much potential, and the barriers that exist in terms of cooperative arrangements and ventures are there,” he said. “If we could provide a way of bridging those, then this riding I think can do a lot of potentially major projects with real positive outcomes.”
He said youth and Indigenous people can lead by example and create something that will not only impact the area’s economy, but the Canadian economy as a whole.
For her part, Cameron travelled across the riding trying to send a message that Indigenous people can indeed Rock the Vote. She garnered just under 14 per cent of the riding’s vote during last night’s election.
Cameron said she has kept solid data on First Nation community voting since 2008 and has seen an increase of voting over this time.
“I get the chiefs asking me about numbers, about what the vote looks like,” she said. “I have it all ready on a spreadsheet and can say ‘this is how your community votes, these are the numbers.’ I love it and the chiefs rely on me to provide that information.”
Although it was a juggling act to run and keep up her Rock the Vote messaging, she said it’s important work.
“It’s a little daunting, but I do honestly love politics. I really like engaging with the voter and even just having those conversations of why people should vote, the power that they have in their vote.”
Both candidates thanked their teams and voters for supporting them through the running process.
Three First Nations candidates ran for the Kenora-Kiiwetinoong seat, Fox, Cameron and independent candidate Kevin Boucher-Chicago. The riding covers a vast area stretching north to Hudson Bay and includes the cities of Kenora and Dryden, seven other municipalities and dozens of First Nations.
