Steven Fletcher

Public record

Indigenous seats in the Legislature: the Indigenous Representation Act

Issues & Impact

In 2019 Steven Fletcher introduced the Indigenous Representation and Related Amendments Act, Bill 231, which would have created four dedicated Indigenous divisions in the Manitoba Legislature. It borrowed the idea of reserved seats from New Zealand but departed from it in a telling way, letting every voter, Indigenous or not, choose which ballot to cast. The bill did not advance.

The position

Fletcher’s aim was durable Indigenous representation built through ordinary provincial legislation, without reopening the Constitution. The bill created four dedicated Indigenous electoral divisions, Northern, Southern, South Winnipeg and North Winnipeg, and raised the Assembly from 57 seats to 61 by adding them rather than redrawing existing ridings.1

Where it departs from New Zealand

New Zealand is the usual model for reserved seats, but the comparison has to be made carefully. In New Zealand only voters of Maori descent may choose between the Maori roll and the general roll; the Maori roll is not open to everyone.2 Bill 231 did the opposite. It let every Manitoba voter, Indigenous or not, choose to cast either the Indigenous or the ordinary ballot, and put the identity requirement not on voters but on candidates.1

The design, and its hard questions

A candidate in an Indigenous division had to establish Indigenous heritage, either through documentation prescribed by regulation1 or by a signed declaration confirmed by the Chief Electoral Officer, and those filings would be open to public inspection. Political parties could not endorse candidates in the Indigenous divisions, yet the members elected from them would be deemed a recognized political party and a recognized opposition party so they could claim the same standing and resources.1 The bill also cut MLA compensation by 7.5 percent.1 The candidate-verification and public-inspection provisions in particular are significant and contestable, and the page does not pretend otherwise.

Contribution, classified
Authorship Bill 231 (2019): four Indigenous electoral divisions on a reserved-seat model, with the Assembly rising from 57 to 61 seats.
Advocacy Argued durable Indigenous representation could be built through provincial law, with every voter choosing a ballot and the identity test placed on candidates rather than voters.
Influence A single member’s proposal; it drew no governing support and did not advance.
Result Not passed.
Legacy Placed a fully drafted, if contested, model of reserved Indigenous representation on Manitoba’s legislative record.

Sources

  1. Manitoba, Bill 231, The Indigenous Representation and Related Amendments Act, 41st Legislature, 4th session (2019): four Indigenous divisions, Assembly raised from 57 to 61 seats, candidate heritage established by documentation or declaration confirmed by the Chief Electoral Officer and open to public inspection, party endorsement barred in Indigenous divisions, MLA compensation reduced 7.5 percent.
  2. New Zealand Electoral Commission, on the Maori electoral roll (reserved-seat comparison).

These citations are as complete as the record now allows. More will be added as they are found, and these pages change as the facts do. Where a source is a recollection rather than a document, it is identified as such.