Whitehorse Daily Star

Allegations surface about intoxicated voters being driven to polls

The Kwanlin Dün First Nation

By Sidney Cohen on October 19, 2016

The Kwanlin Dün First Nation is concerned about candidates’ get-out-the-vote tactics in Mountainview after receiving complaints from its citizens in the McIntyre neighbourhood.

In a letter to the three Mountainview candidates dated Oct. 14, the Kwanlin Dün First Nation Council said it has “been made aware that intoxicated people may have been taken to the polls and may not be in a position to cast their vote with a clear mind.

“This concerns KDFN (Kwanlin Dün First Nation) Council and we request all parties refrain from this practice,” says the letter.

The letter also suggests KDFN citizens were misled about the date of the election (Nov. 7).

“Please DO NOT tell KDFN citizens “it’s voting day” when in actuality it is not,” it reads.

Eileen Duchesne, executive assistant to KDFN Chief Doris Bill, said the council also heard elders were given rides to advanced polling stations with the belief that it was election day.

In some instances, citizens weren’t aware of the upcoming election until they were approached to come vote, said Duchesne.

“They were told that it was election day. Elections are relatively new to First Nations people. We want our citizens to get out there and vote, but not in this way,” she said.

KDFN started receiving complaints on Oct. 8, said Duchesne.

The letter from the KDFN council is not aimed at any particular party or candidate, and KDFN said it doesn’t know who is allegedly misinforming KDFN citizens.

“We did not and do not want to point fingers at anyone,” said Duchesne.

“Like any election, there is a process for complaints and we will and do respect that. We just want our citizens to be treated like everyone else.”

Shaunagh Stikeman is the NDP candidate in Mountainview.

She said she heard similar stories while door-knocking in McIntyre long before she got the letter from the KDFN council.

“I heard first-hand from several people in McIntyre that people were going around collecting intoxicated and vulnerable people and elders and I heard first-hand from two elders in Kwanlin Dün that people had tried to round them up and tell them it was voting day and time to get into the car and go,” Stikeman told the Star this morning.

Both of the elders she spoke to refused the rides, because they knew better, said Stikeman.

“It seemed as though the strategy was to prey on vulnerable people,” she added.

Stikeman said she was told that KDFN citizens were approached to vote on Oct. 8, which is the same day the KDFN council started hearing complaints.

“I find this extremely troubling because I highly doubt that this kind of conduct is happening in any other neighbourhood other than McIntyre,” she said.

Currie Dixon, the Yukon Party campaign chair, said his party is “extremely clear” with all its volunteers that tactics like those alleged in Mountainview are “completely unacceptable.”

Dixon said he talked to the volunteers and believes that none of them are connected to the complaints received by KDFN.

As it happens, said Dixon, the Yukon Party has had a number of voters write or phone in about “inappropriate or untoward tactics” from the NDP and Liberals.

The Yukon Party has made those complaints known to the chief electoral officer, he said.

Dixon said he was not at liberty to divulge the nature of the “inappropriate or untoward tactics,” or the names of the people who reported the misconduct, but “they relate generally to being misled to thinking it’s voting day or misled to signing a release or proxy form that they were told was to help them get on the voters list when in fact it was a proxy form.”

The Yukon Party does offer rides to polling places if voters ask for them, but it would not drive someone who appeared intoxicated, said Dixon.

KDFN said in its letter that the First Nation will provide rides for its citizens on voting day.

The Yukon Party will stop offering rides “in the KDFN area,” said Dixon.

Jeanie Dendys, the Liberal candidate in the riding and the director of justice at Kwanlin Dün First Nation, could not be reached for comment before press deadline today.

Dendys and leader Sandy Silver said in a Liberal party statement on the allegations released this morning they are “disappointed that questionable practices have occurred in the Mountaiview riding.”

“Jeanie has spent her career building programs to assist vulnerable people in Yukon; especially with the vulnerable citizens of Kwanlin Dün First Nation,” it reads.

“She and her campaign team have been trained in proper voting practices, as have all Yukon Liberal candidates.”

Eligible Yukon voters have been able to cast special ballots since Oct. 8. These ballots are for people who know they won’t be available to vote at the advanced polls on Oct. 30 and 31, or on election day on Nov. 7.

Yukoners can submit special ballots to returning officers between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., Monday to Friday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday, at locations around the territory.

Asked this morning whether returning officers turn away voters who appear intoxicated, Lori McKee, the Yukon’s chief electoral officer, said: “That would be quite the judgment call, for them to refuse to allow someone to vote because, in their view, they were intoxicated.

“Returning officers ensure that electors who come into vote, any elector who comes into vote, is able to provide the information that they need, is able to complete the election documents that are required and is able to conduct the voting process independently.”

There are no rules prohibiting parties from offering voters rides to polling stations, indeed, it’s a common practice, said McKee.

“I believe that most campaigns will offer that on polling day.”

Comments (40)

Up 0 Down 0

Adam Smith on Oct 25, 2016 at 11:13 pm

No. I will not. Not my place. Ask them direct. Get a real answer.

Up 0 Down 0

north_of_60 on Oct 25, 2016 at 3:45 pm

What polls were open for voting on Thanksgiving weekend? This story has no credibility, and seems to be based on the questionable recollection of people who were admittedly drunk or hung-over.

Up 6 Down 0

Tom Stevens on Oct 25, 2016 at 7:49 am

Another case of "Yukon me, I con you"

Up 7 Down 1

Lost in the Yukon on Oct 24, 2016 at 4:51 pm

Dearest Adam Smith ... can you tell us the party that released a staff member this week?

Up 23 Down 2

Moose on Oct 24, 2016 at 2:48 pm

@Max Mack - It's not just about giving them a ride to go vote, it's about them lying and telling them it's voting day and also about them promising to drive them around to other places in exchange for voting - IE a bribe.

I don't know where you come from, but here in Canada most people find that kind of behavior unacceptable.

Up 17 Down 18

Max Mack on Oct 24, 2016 at 11:43 am

All political parties give people rides to polling stations to vote. This is common practice in Canada and the USA. Many argue that this enhances democracy, as the least fortunate are able to cast their vote.

Are we now to say that "drunk" people should not be given rides to polls? Only "non-vulnerable people" should be entitled to a ride to the polls? That "drunk" folks are not entitled to their vote? Only "clear-thinking" individuals should be able to vote? Good luck in the courts with that.

And since when did elders become "vulnerable" people? Being old or an elder automatically makes you vulnerable? I know many elders who are anything but vulnerable.

If "drunks" or elders or "vulnerable" people were refused rides to the polls, the political parties involved would be skewered for refusing to help these very same "vulnerable" people.

I can't help but wonder if KDFN leadership has their own motives here . . .

Up 11 Down 27

Liberals like to refer to other party as using stunts on Oct 24, 2016 at 10:30 am

This seem very much like another liberal stunt of their own that is back firing on them.

Up 30 Down 4

Groucho d'North on Oct 22, 2016 at 2:04 pm

Fix the problem at the polling places. If you are intoxicated you forfeit your vote that day. Sober up and come back when you are of sound mind, If you miss voting because it's the last day - too bad, take some responsibility for yourself. This is not life and death- it's only politics.

Up 24 Down 3

Mark Sanders on Oct 22, 2016 at 12:05 pm

Another important consideration in this matter is the level of intoxication of some of the people who have come forward with the allegations which I believe are truthful.

Even when drunk I would know voting involved making a choice and not listening to someone who pressured me to vote for their candidate. And the vote is secret, you can say yes I will vote for this person or that person and then vote for whoever you want.

I think this really drives home the level of local social problems in town and the need for FN governments to teach their people about the voting process.

Up 8 Down 7

The I party did anything to win in the last election on Oct 22, 2016 at 9:27 am

So they try to create false action for the we party.

Up 13 Down 8

ProScience Greenie on Oct 22, 2016 at 6:08 am

What needs to happen is to make it against the rules for any political party's people to have anything to do with giving rides for people to go vote. They must be kept right away from it. Same with any NGOs involved in any form of political activism. Too much potential for shenanigans during those rides to vote so just eliminate it all.

Up 15 Down 2

Adam Smith on Oct 21, 2016 at 7:35 pm

A political party fired a staffer this week. Linked to this?

Up 16 Down 4

Mark Sanders on Oct 21, 2016 at 7:20 pm

I think the RCMP will go slow with an investigation until the election is over.

At that time the candidate who directed this will likely have lost and then have to face the embarrassment of the charges. And if you think back to the robocall scandal they are very serious charges.

Up 28 Down 10

BB on Oct 21, 2016 at 2:26 pm

Go back to the last election in the same riding. I am recalling that Stephen Dunbar-Edge was very close to Darrel Pazloski, sometimes ahead, sometimes behind, until that early voter's poll was counted. Pazloski won that particular poll by a landslide and then won his seat by 104 votes.

Please somebody check into the five or so 'polls' that were counted to get the result. - I tried but could not find the information. I am going by memory and the results of that one poll were so skewed that I wondered if someone had stuffed the ballot box. Now I am starting to see how it could be that this happened.

Up 31 Down 13

Concern on Oct 21, 2016 at 2:15 pm

Don't you worry Pillman, the proof will come. There were multiple witnesses. Keep defending the Yukon Party if you want but it doesn't look very good when you support these kind of tactics.

Up 20 Down 3

who would do such a thing?...... on Oct 21, 2016 at 1:24 pm

People remember accusations, not the truth.
That's right out of HRC's playbook. We can easily guess who would use those tactics.

Up 23 Down 23

Sarah W on Oct 21, 2016 at 1:06 pm

BTW the other story said the guy was driven down to a hotel downtown, likely the westmark, to vote then he decided to stay downtown. I live in the Mountainview Riding and I am leaving on vacation next week. I went to the returning office which is where one has to vote. It is at the Airport Chalet and nowhere near downtown. If you are going to fabricate stories to hurt candidates, get your facts straight. This did not happen.

Up 19 Down 21

Just Sayin' on Oct 21, 2016 at 11:00 am

I think someone needs to look at the bigger picture; The reason these individuals (early voters) fell for someone taking them to the polls to vote early is because most First Nation's elections transpire this way. This is what FN are used to because it happens in their own community.
Just because someone said it happened does not mean it is the truth. There are two sides to the story and then the truth.

Up 20 Down 40

Francis Pillman on Oct 21, 2016 at 9:15 am

I smell the liberals or ndp behind this. Allegations are one thing, proof is another. All I see is allegations. Come back with some proof.

Up 12 Down 6

Really on Oct 20, 2016 at 5:38 pm

I guess I defer to your superior intellect and reasoning. Good luck with that.

Up 28 Down 18

Rose on Oct 20, 2016 at 4:46 pm

Oh Really,
You told me to read the story FIRST. Yes, in all CAPS! I read them both. The YP did not make the complaints, they have had complaints made to them and have forwarded those concerns to the Returning officer. So if you’re reading the story first, PAY ATTENTION. It looks like petty denial and deflection. BTW, the statements made by KDFN Citizens implicate the YP. So yes, REALLY!

Up 25 Down 4

Wayne on Oct 20, 2016 at 4:38 pm

I'm far more likely to actually cast a ballot if I AM drunk.

Up 19 Down 14

Oh Really on Oct 20, 2016 at 2:56 pm

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/kwanlin-dun-vote-yukon-party-tactics-1.3810904 "The first story on this.

Rose and Jake M. I don't dispute what the Elders said. I dispute the way it is being reported. Compare the Star article to the CBC one.

Up 27 Down 20

Petronius on Oct 20, 2016 at 2:11 pm

Yukon deserves better than to be treated like this by the conservative party. We are a highly intelligent voting public. I can't even feel sorry for the conservatives since they'll get 10s of thousands in severance pay, that's money that could be going to much needed daycare for needy families instead of already full pockets of conservative party members. Gross

Up 46 Down 18

Jake M. on Oct 20, 2016 at 1:19 pm

@really. The YP did not make any complaint. Rather the Paz's campaign team was seen picking up vulnerable people off the street and transporting them to the ballot.By the way, these vulnerable people have made public statements about their experience. So the NDP and Liberals were not "caught" doing this - it was the YP. I agree that this practice should have "no place in the Yukon."

Up 32 Down 17

Rose on Oct 20, 2016 at 1:18 pm

Really on,
I did read the piece. I am also aware of who was accused of using these tactics. I am really curious about the state funded piece that was the origin of this story that you referred to. I don’t need to throw mud. Where I come from, born and raised, if Elders came forward and say this is happening, then I nor Mr. Dixon are in any position to argue the word of our Elders. That is something commonly known among the roughly 30% First Nations population of the Yukon. Arguing that this information is wrong and actually attempting to blame other parties is typical, but McIntyre has a lot of people and they vote.

Up 37 Down 13

Concerned on Oct 20, 2016 at 1:08 pm

The truth will come out very soon I'm sure, as there were multiple witnesses. The person responsible is allegedly VERY close to one of the candidates.

My biggest question is why the polling clerks for Mountainview are saying that everything is fine. MAYBE no rules were actually broken, but it is still a very sleazy thing to do and they should at least acknowledge that car loads of inebriated people have been brought in and they should be able to identify who brought them in to the proper electoral authorities.

As for the Yukon Party defense that they have filed complaints about the other parties, it's bull, you can phone the electoral office and they will tell you that no complaints have been filed.

Up 17 Down 12

I have seen the misbehavior like in the last City on Oct 20, 2016 at 12:07 pm

of Whitehorse election. Using City equipment to promote their campaign.
Using city workers to set up campaign places for them.
Using City property to promote to campaign
In the last Territorial election in one riding, people were moved in to vote for one party using seniors and disability people that had problem with drugs and booze.
Why bother doing anything about it when there is so much, what do you call it?
This is why good people with knowledge and experience don't get involved with politics.
This shows no respect for our public process and our government.
The interesting part of the evidence was in plain site to see.
The Chief made a very smart political move by putting out the letter and protecting her people from this abuse of the election system.

Up 46 Down 6

Mark Sanders on Oct 20, 2016 at 11:00 am

This is incredibly serious business. The air has to be cleared and people made accountable if these very serious allegations are true.

Up 15 Down 21

not drunk! on Oct 20, 2016 at 10:56 am

Just missing some teeth and has a speech impediment.

Up 42 Down 7

ProScience Greenie on Oct 20, 2016 at 10:29 am

Bring in the cops to get to the bottom of this. Anyone doing anything to mess with our democratic right to vote should see some jail time.

Up 38 Down 23

Rick Rondelet on Oct 20, 2016 at 9:53 am

Gotta ask
Why is a drunk person allowed to vote before being giving a chance to sober up?
When did Currie Dixon become the Yukon Donald Trump ?
(ignore a problem by attacking others)

Up 36 Down 16

Petronius on Oct 20, 2016 at 9:07 am

Rose is right, shame, shame, shame for resorting to these kind of tactics, preying on the vulnerable and misleading them. If this is how they want to win an election then they deserve to be shown the exit. Shame!

Up 23 Down 38

Really on Oct 20, 2016 at 6:30 am

This 'story' is such a waste of time I am staggered it has been reported on by so many. Kudos to the Star for doing some fact checking; something that was sadly lacking in the state funded piece that was the origin of this.
Rose, read the story before throwing mud. It appears the YP made a complaint FIRST. Looks like one of the other parties has been caught. Maybe the righteous liberals? It true, the allegations above reflect behaviour that has no place in the Yukon and should not be ignored.

Up 36 Down 16

I heard it too on Oct 19, 2016 at 11:11 pm

I gave Rose a thumbs up and it automatically gave her a thumbs down at the same time. I noticed this on another Whitehorse Star article yesterday. Same slant too. Someone is messing with the voting AGAIN!

That said, I heard these rumours again and they were saying it was the Yukon Party up to the dirty business. I really think if people are complaining, they should come right out and say who they are complaining about otherwise all three parties get tarnished. Curry's not afraid to point the finger at both the NDP and the Liberals, well I'm pointing the finger at him because that's what I've heard!

Up 31 Down 13

June Jackson on Oct 19, 2016 at 5:45 pm

This kind of thing happens at every election.. this time though, FN is making an issue of it, as they should.

Up 26 Down 12

Highly suspicious on Oct 19, 2016 at 5:40 pm

These type of tactics fall in line with only one party all the way through the federal level. The ends justifies the means people. Machiavellian if you will.

Up 30 Down 16

drum on Oct 19, 2016 at 5:36 pm

"Elections relatively new to First Nations People"
I thought that they had been electing their own government, councils and Elders for years and years.
What happened!!!!

Up 39 Down 8

Jackie P. on Oct 19, 2016 at 4:43 pm

These are very serious allegations and reveal the ugly side of Yukon campaigning.

Up 82 Down 51

Rose on Oct 19, 2016 at 3:57 pm

Nothing new that these people have complained, well their word does not seem to count. I guess a Caucasian male in a suit by the name of Currie Dixon can just put those rumors to rest because his word is golden. Any Yukon First Nation person should have a good Laugh at this BS. The privilege of being non-native does not downplay the seriousness of the allegations. If you were not there Curry, then why state that this did not happen? Seriously, you know that this didn't happen? How can you assume your word means more than the person who complained. I'm sure you have many complaints about the Liberals and NDP. Good defense! Typical YP...

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