Elections

The event concerns the first provincial elections that First Nations people could vote in, beginning in 1960. The interviews obtained focus on Northern Saskatchewan. As per Gwen Beck: “And there was a lot of, there was always quite a bit of liquor in those days, you know, involved in it.” To which the interviewer, Murray Dobbin asks the question “: So people would try and get votes by buying drinks?” Gwen responds by saying that many people who went to the polls were intoxicated, but does not outright say that the parties in the election had bought votes with alcohol.

A resolution was passed in the provincial legislature to universally grant the right to vote to Aboriginal people, despite the fact that Aboriginal leaders had not granted their approval.

The right to vote was extended to all Aboriginal people, under the condition that they gave up their tax-exempt Indian status. Meaning, that any person who was "non-status" was eligible to vote, however, barriers to accessing the vote still remained. Universal enfranchisement for First Nations people was granted in 1960.

The right to vote was extended in 1920 to Indigenous people living off-reserve and those who had fought in the Canadian army, navy, or air force - regardless of whether they were on or off-reserve.

The Conservatives under the leadership of John A. MacDonald defeated Alexander Mackenzie’s Liberals, returning to power in 1878. Their platform promoted the implementation of a Canadian National Policy, which was highlighted by a strong promotion of solidifying the Canadian border in the West through increased settlement and agricultural development of the region.

According to the Indian Act, Aboriginal women could neither vote nor be elected to band counsels until the Act was amended in 1951. The vote for Aboriginal women came roughly 33 years after suffrage was granted to white settler women within Canada in all provinces exempting Quebec (1940).