(Quebec) The Quebec elections will mark history with an unprecedented number of Aboriginal candidates. The political parties, which are stepping on the accelerator this week in view of October 3, have so far recruited nine candidates from Aboriginal peoples, a first in Quebec.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
“Nine candidacies is something new, at least to my ears,” says lawyer and former PQ MP Alexis Wawanoloath. “I have never heard that there were so many candidates [autochtones sur les rangs] “, he added. The formations consulted do not remember such a high number either.
The Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) confirmed Monday that a first indigenous woman will defend the colors of the formation, in Duplessis on the North Shore. The director of relations with the community of the Apuiat wind farm project, Kateri Champagne Jourdain, of Uashat mak Mani-utenam, will be in the ranks to delight this PQ stronghold, left vacant with the departure of Lorraine Richard.
Liberal leader Dominique Anglade will in turn announce this Tuesday a “big name” with the arrival in her ranks of Tunu Napartuk, former mayor of Kuujjuaq, who will seek the votes in Ungava. The Inuit will cross swords with the author and Cree activist Maïtée Labrecque-Saganash, who defends the banner of Québec solidaire.
The Solidaires, who have already announced the candidacies of five members of the First Nations, will add a sixth recruit to their list, a first in the history of the formation. Co-spokesperson Manon Massé will also be passing through Duplessis on Thursday to confirm the candidacy of an Innu woman.
On the Parti Québécois side, the troops are counting on the candidacy of Jacline Rouleau, of the Ojibwe Nation, in Abitibi-Est. No Aboriginal woman has yet made her way to the Blue Room.
“Efforts” praised
Alexis Wawanoloath, who was the first Aboriginal elected to sit in the National Assembly after the First Nations obtained the right to vote in 1969, is delighted that political parties are making “efforts” to recruit Aboriginal candidates.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Alexis Wawanoloath, lawyer and former PQ MP
That the political parties want to open up to diversity and to the Aboriginal reality is nevertheless an encouraging signal, and also that it is not just the left-wing party that is doing it.
Alexis Wawanoloath, lawyer and former PQ MP
Mr. Wawanoloath, an Abenaki, even mentions what seems to be becoming “a movement”.
“Is it precisely all the commissions, the various tragedies and all the awareness that there has been that makes the parties make an effort? “, he asks.
The lawyer believes that the presence of Aboriginal people in the Blue Room could advance certain issues. “On the issue of systemic racism, for example, if there were more Aboriginal people in government, would we have had a different story? “, he raises.
It is difficult to measure the increase in the number of Aboriginal candidates in the provincial elections since Élections Québec does not collect this data. The federal scene historically attracts more applications from Indigenous peoples. In 2021, there were 77 Indigenous candidates, a record number, according to a compilation by The Canadian Press. “There is the fiduciary link with the federal government which has been there for longer,” underlines Mr. Wawanoloath.
An opponent for Martine Biron
Second in the Quebec region according to the polls, the Conservative Party of Quebec presents a former municipal councilor of Lévis, Mario Fortier, to face the caquiste Martine Biron, ex-political analyst at Radio-Canada, in Chutes-de-la- Boiler.
The Conservative leader, Éric Duhaime, argued Monday that his training stood out by presenting a “rooted candidate” in Lévis, while the Coalition avenir Québec “parachuted a journalist from Sillery”.
Mr. Duhaime, a resident of Quebec, had considered running in Chutes-de-la-Chaudière before deciding on Chauveau, in the northern suburbs of the capital. Mario Fortier was a municipal councilor in Lévis from 2009 to 2021. He was the only member of Mayor Gilles Lehouillier’s team to experience defeat last fall. He chaired the Société de transport de Lévis from 2017 to 2021.
Prime Minister François Legault must officially announce the candidacy of Mme Biron Wednesday. The current MP for Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, caquiste Marc Picard, announced earlier this summer that he would not seek another mandate.
Application Blitz
Moreover, the political parties are beginning a blitz of candidate announcements this week, a sign that the electoral campaign is upon us. François Legault confirmed on Monday the candidacy of the mayor of the Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Jonathan Lapierre, who will face the outgoing PQ MP, Joël Arseneau.
The CAQ will announce this Tuesday its candidates in Laval-des-Rapides and Sanguinet, where it is betting on Christine Fréchette, former deputy director of the cabinet of Jean-François Lisée under the government of Pauline Marois and former CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of the East of Montreal. Friday, we will announce two candidates in Outaouais.
The Liberals will also give a boost with the presentation of eight candidates this week. The leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, is leaving for his tour in the East where he will announce this week who will try to succeed in René-Lévesque to Martin Ouellet, who is not seeking a new mandate.
The CAQ, Québec solidaire and the Conservative Party of Québec will very soon have their 125 candidates in the ranks, while the Liberal Party and the Parti Québécois are trailing with approximately 70 and 60 candidates each.