Independent Native Voice
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Independent Native Voice (INV) was a short-lived political party in Manitoba, Canada. It was created in 1995 to address aboriginal issues, and ran three candidates in the 1995 provincial election. INV was not registered with Elections Manitoba, and its candidates were listed on the ballot as independents. During the election, accusations surfaced that Independent Native Voice had been funded by Progressive Conservative (PC) Party organizers to take votes away from the New Democratic Party (NDP) in marginal constituencies.
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The election
INV's leader was Nelson Contois, who contested the Swan River constituency.Template:Ref The other candidates were Nelson's daughter Carey Contois in Dauphin, and Darryl Sutherland in Interlake.
Independent Native Voice was one of two unregistered parties focusing on aboriginal issues in the 1995 campaign. The other was the First Peoples Party (FPP) of Jerry Fontaine, the brother of future Canadian Assembly of First Nations leader Phil Fontaine. The FPP had no formal association with Independent Native Voice, and was not implicated in the post-election controversy. Nelson and Carey Contois nevertheless joined the FPP in mid-campaign, and ran with endorsements from both parties.Template:Ref Sutherland did not join the FPP, and was not in regular contact with the Contoises after declaring his candidacy.
On April 22, 1995, the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper quoted Progressive Conservative organizer Allan Aitken as saying that he had assisted Sutherland and the Contoises in setting up their campaigns. He claimed he only wanted to ensure "everyone ha[d] an equal shot at running", and denied his actions contravened provincial law. Bill Uruski, a former NDP Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP), was quoted in the same article as speculating that Aitken's assistance was a plot "to undermine NDP support in the native communities".Template:Ref Two days later, Sutherland told the Interlake Spectator that he had accepted help from Progressive Conservatives early in the campaign, but later distanced himself from these figures. He also argued that his candidacy was legitimate.Template:Ref
Both articles were largely ignored by the media and the voting public. According to later reports, Sutherland told FPP leader Jerry Fontaine during this period that Progressive Conservative organizers had promised him at least $3,000 to declare his candidacy. Fontaine encouraged Sutherland to take his story to the media, though Sutherland did not initially follow this advice.Template:Ref
Independent Native Voice fared poorly as a party, receiving a total of 518 votes. Nelson Contois received 118 votes (1.36%), Carey Contois received 111 (1.15%) and Sutherland received 289 (3.90%). The NDP won all three constituencies contested by INV, though the Progressive Conservatives came within thirty-six votes of winning Swan River. Provincially, the Progressive Conservatives under Gary Filmon were re-elected with their second consecutive majority government. The NDP registered a complaint with Elections Manitoba concerning the INV candidacies, but no charges were laid.Template:Ref
Scandal
Following extensive journalistic work by reporter Curt Petrovich, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) interviewed Sutherland and ran an exposé of his candidacy on June 22, 1998.Template:Ref This story, and subsequent follow-up reports, included accusations by Sutherland that Progressive Conservative organizers had been guilty of vote-rigging and inducement in the 1995 campaign. The resulting scandal became an instant political flashpoint in the province. A Winnipeg Free Press article from June 24 noted that Sutherland received $111 bi-weekly in welfare payments at the time of the election, yet was listed as contributing almost $5,000 to his own campaign chest.Template:Ref On the same day, Sutherland named local Progressive Conservative organizer Cubby Barrett as the source of his funds.Template:Ref
Premier Filmon initially rejected these reports, claiming that he trusted Elections Manitoba more than the CBC.Template:Ref He nonetheless called a public inquiry under judge Alfred Monnin before the end of June, in response to mounting evidence of improper behaviour.Template:Ref Monnin ruled that local Progressive Conservative organizers were guilty of inducing at least one candidate (Sutherland) to contest the election.Template:Ref Senior party organizer Taras Sokolyk was personally implicated, when it was discovered that he had channelled party funds to Aitken during the campaign.Template:Ref In his summary, Monnin described the behaviour of Conservative organizers as "unethical" and "morally reprehensible".Template:Ref
Monnin's inquiry did not conclude that the Contois candidacies were induced by Progressive Conservative organizers, although suspicions remain.Template:Ref Premier Filmon was not implicated in the scandal.Template:Ref No charges were filed against Barrett and Aitken, as the statute of limitations for illegal inducement had expired after two years.Template:Ref
Referring to the scandal in 1998, Jerry Fontaine argued that "the Tories took advantage of Aboriginal individuals who weren't all that involved in political issues or political life".Template:Ref The scandal contributed to the defeat of Filmon's government in the 1999 election.
Independent Native Voice ceased to exist after 1995.
Election results
| Election | # of candidates nominated | # of seats won | # of total votes | % of popular vote | % in seats contested |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 3 | 0 | 518 | 2.01 |
See also
Notes and sources
- Template:Note Doug Smith, As Many Liars (Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Pub., 2003), p. 33.
- Template:Note Smith, p. 52.
- Template:Note Alice Krueger, "Hey? Whose side is he on!", Winnipeg Free Press, 22 April 1995, City Page.
- Template:Note Smith, p. 82.
- Template:Note Smith, pp. 70-71.
- Template:Note Smith, pp. 94-105. Election Manitoba's investigation is covered extensively in this chapter.
- Template:Note http://www.michenerawards.ca/english/winaward1999.htm
- Template:Note David Kuxhaus, "Who bankrolled native candidate in '95 campaign?", Winnipeg Free Press, 24 June 1998, A1.
- Template:Note David Kuxhaus, "Tory named in vote scandal", Winnipeg Free Press, 25 June 1998, A1.
- Template:Note http://www.michenerawards.ca/english/winaward1999.htm
- Template:Note Paul McKie, "Judge to probe vote", Winnipeg Free Press, 30 June 1998, A1.
- Template:Note Smith, p. 211.
- Template:Note David Kuxhaus, "Tory accountant in net", Winnipeg Free Press, 24 December 1998, A1.
- Template:Note http://www.gov.mb.ca/legislature/hansard/5th-36th/vol_013a/h013a_2.html
- Template:Note http://umanitoba.ca/manitoban/1998-1999/1118/n2.html
- Template:Note Smith, p. 214.
- Template:Note Smith, p. 217
- Template:Note http://umanitoba.ca/manitoban/1998-1999/1118/n2.html
All electoral information is taken from Elections Manitoba.