WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR BALLOT ON THE TREATY REFERENDUM! : WC Mediawire

We all know the referendum is not the right way to get a mandate from the People of British Columbia.There are so many better ways, and you deserve the best!

We all know that no matter what, whether there is a yes or no vote, the Provincial Government will do what it wants in treaty anyway (Geoff Plant said this to the media after our injunction was denied)

We further know that this government has not listened to First Nations concerns on this issue, nor do they listen to any other people in British Columbia.

SO WHAT CAN WE DO? HOW ABOUT THIS?

Send all your ballots to me, Judith Sayers, Elected Chief of the Hupacasath First Nation.

I will see how many ballots I can amass. We will have an auditor or other professional count them and officially declare how many ballots there are.

We will then have a media event announcing how many ballots I have. We will announce when this date is to be, prior to the May 15th deadline. Everyone can come and be observers of counting and of the fun. We can make a celebration
of it!

This can show the government that their process is flawed, that the majority of people of British Columbia do not agree with their referendum on treaty principles. Let's take back the power!

My address is:
Chief Judith Sayers
Hupacasath First Nation
5323 River Rd, Port Alberni, BC, V9Y 6Z3

If you have one central place, or one group gathers them up, I can arrange for a courier to pick them up. Or have one person deliver them to my office.

Concerned with what I will do with them? Mark on your ballot, if you would like me to burn them, vote no, or spoil them. I will follow your instruction.

If you really feel you want to vote, and I respect that, e mail me and I will send you an analysis of how the 8 questions will affect negotiations so you can make an informed decision on voting.

Want to talk to me, call me at (250) 724-4041 ext. 1 and let me know what you think of this idea! Or e-mail me at judiths@island.net.

If you want to add anything, if you support treaties, or what you want negotiated, please add it to your package, we will compile it and make sure the information gets to the right place.

Klecko, Klecko, thank you, for all your support of First Nations in this province in standing up to a government who is not doing anything to foster good relations with First Nations in BC.

Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 12:09:41 -0800
From: Grace Draper <graceful@shaw.ca>
Subject: Check out the Elections BC website! [Editor: Elections BC info
down near bottom]

Hello Everyone! I just got off the phone to UVic Law professor, Hamar
Foster, who suggested I have a look at the web site for the referendum
at the Elections BC homepage. The clearly written instructions that were
printed there about the referendum process have been removed, replaced
by two telephone numbers where you can presumably get information. I
would suggest we all telephone and ask some questions as to why this
information was removed. No wonder there is so much paranoia out there!
Shalom, Susan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: "mdobbin@telus.net" <mdobbin@telus.net>

The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) is working
with the First Nations Summit (FNS), the United Native
Nations and the NDP on a provincial strategy.

Keep your ballots until further notice.

Weblink: http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/referendum.htm

Reference at indymedia website:

http://victoria.indymedia.org//front.php3?article_id=4351

Article dated March 28th, '02

What to do with all of those referendum ballots. The short
answer is hold on to them. The Union of BC Indian Chiefs
(UBCIC) is working with the First Nations Summit (FNS), the
United Native Nations and the NDP on a provincial strategy.
You may have heard about the spoiling of the ballots
approach but we are worried that the number of spoiled
ballots may not be disclosed publicly (see the Referendum
Act, Section 3) but be counted as part of the returned
ballots.

What the thinking is that we advocate a redirection of
ballots. There would be a collection of ballots either
regionally or by scratching out the return address and
putting the UBCIC or FNS address on it. The collected
ballots would then be brought to Victoria and perhaps
burned on the lawn of the legislature.

There were two legal injunctions by First Nations bands
sought on Tuesday morning in Victoria. The injunction is
more of a procedural point and will seek to clarify the
ambiguous questions. There is another legal challenge
brewing which challenges the constitutionality of the
questions stating the BC government has no jurisdiction in
asking these questions.

That Information will be posted on the UBCIC website at:

http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/referendum.htm

This page contains a legal review of the proposed
referendum questions by a respected lawyer Louise
Mandell. It also contains a comments page for those who
want to voice their opinions. One more thing, there will be a
full-page ad that will be in all the major dailies on April
5th encouraging all British Columbians to boycott the
process and/or protest by sending your ballots to a central
location. Please pass this email on to as many people as
possible!!

------------------------

Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 17:36:37 -0800
From: rose henry <pheonixstar62@hotmail.com>

For Immediate Release

Special announcement to be made at a press conference on BC Treaty Referendum

At 4:00 pm, on Friday April 5th 2002, a press conference will be held at
the BC Legislature, in conjunction with the arrival of the Aboriginal
Friends and Neighbours (arriving from Nanaimo) to make a special
announcement regarding the details of a public demonstration to express
our views of the BC Governments? planned Treaty Referendum.

It is our belief that the BC Government is not only acting out of bad
public faith, but is designing to whip up public animosity towards BC?s
First Nations people so as to avoid historic responsibility BC settlers
have to resolving BC land claims with respect and dignity.

Furthermore, proceeding with this so called ?referendum?, with little or
no consultation with First Nations Chiefs, is a slap in the face to the
legitimacy of BC land claims and the persistent human rights abuses that
abound for First Nations people in BC.

The legacy of cultural and physical genocide that plagues First Nations
communities is a wrong that cannot simply vanish. However, the BC
government, along with the citizens of BC, has a moral and legal
responsibility to acknowledge the validity of BC land claims and to act
with haste in resolving what is becoming a shameful international
crisis.

We will be demonstrating our disgust with this quasi-legal process, and
the racist backlash that is sure to follow. We call upon the BC
Government to halt this ?referendum?, and for the citizens of BC to hold
the government accountable for the persistent human rights abuses that
threaten First Nations people?s lives, cultures, jobs and communities.

For more information please contact either Rose Henry or Shane Calder at
380-7311

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 10:34:00 -0800
To: "mdobbin@telus.net" <mdobbin@telus.net>
From: Jessie Smith <rain@web.net>
Subject: Fwd: Referendum Ballots (fwd)

>Article by: The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC)
>Friday 29 Mar 2002
>Summary:The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) is working with the
>First Nations Summit (FNS), the United Native Nations and the NDP on a
>provincial strategy.
>Weblink: http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/referendum.htm
>Reference at indymedia website:
>http://victoria.indymedia.org//front.php3?article_id=4351
>Article:
>March 28th, '02
>Please pass this email on to as many people as possible!!
>What to do with all of those referendum ballots.
>The short answer is hold on to them.
>The Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) is working with the
>First Nations Summit (FNS), the United Native Nations and the NDP on a
>provincial strategy.
>There is a meeting on Wednesday, April 3rd to flesh out the specifics, I
>believe Jim Sinclair of BC Federation of Labour will be there as well.
>You may have heard about the spoiling of the ballots approach but we are
>worried that the number of spoiled ballots may not be disclosed publicly
>(see
>the Referendum Act, Section 3) but be counted as part of the returned
>ballots.
>What the thinking is that we advocate a redirection of ballots. There
>would
>be a collection of ballots either regionally or by scratching out the return
>address and putting the UBCIC or FNS address on it. The collected ballots
>would then be brought to Victoria and perhaps burned on the lawn of the
>legislature.
>There were two legal injunctions by First Nations bands sought on Tuesday
>morning in Victoria. The injunction is more of a procedural point and will
>seek to clarify the ambiguous questions. There is another legal challenge
>brewing which challenges the constitutionality of the questions stating
>that
>the BC government has no jurisdiction in asking these questions.
>Information will be posted on the UBCIC website at:
>http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/referendum.htm
>This page contains a legal review of the proposed referendum
>questions by a respected lawyer named Louise Mandell. It also contains a
>comments page for those who want to voice their opinions. One more thing,
>there will be a full-page ad that will be in all the major dailies on April
>5th encouraging all British Columbians to boycott the process and/or protest
>by sending your ballots to a central location.
>Please pass this email on to as many people as possible!!
*************************

Jessie Smith
Real Alternatives Information Network (RAIN)
Vancouver, BC, Canada
(604) 254-4409
rain@web.net
http://www.web.net/rain

"Engaging and Educating on Global Issues"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: David Schreck <Schreck@StrategicThoughts.com>
David Schreck http://www.StrategicThoughts.com

Protesting the Treaty Referendum

Those who think the referendum is worse than a waste of more than $9
million can consider three options: 1) vote no, 2) spoil the ballot, or
3) do not vote. There are arguments in favor of each of these
approaches. The deadline for Elections BC to receive ballots is May 15,
2002. Those who are debating how to record their disgust can put their
ballot in a safe place and consider the options over the next few weeks.

According to Elections BC there is a way to cast a "protest" vote and
have it counted. Unfortunately, the regulation adopted by government for
the vote says nothing about counting the votes so we will have to trust
the Elections BC website.

The questions and answers section of the Elections BC website for the
referendum says:

"Can a voter cast a "protest vote"?"

"Voters who wish to cast a "protest vote" should follow the instructions
for voting in the voting package. They must complete and sign the
certification envelope in order to have their ballot included in the
count. By leaving the ballot blank, or writing a comment on the ballot,
the ballot will be recorded and reported as a rejected vote for each
question."
"Voters who do not sign the certification envelope, physically destroy
the ballot, or do not participate in the referendum will not be recorded
or reported as a rejected vote, as their ballots will not reach the
counting phase."

"How will the results be reported?"

"At the conclusion of the count, the Chief Electoral Officer will
provide the results to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. The
results provided will include the total number of Yes, No and Rejected
votes for each question on the referendum ballot."

Unfortunately, nothing can be found to support the above answers in the
regulation that government adopted for conducting the referendum.

Normal elections are conducted in accordance with the BC Election Act.
The referendum is conducted using the Referendum Act and a regulation
(cabinet order (pdf)) to that Act. The Referendum Act provides that its
regulation can adopt entire sections of the Election Act. While the
special regulation for the "Treaty Regulation" adopts several sections
of the Election Act, it only adopts 1 of 35 sections that deal with
counting ballots.

Section 134 of the Election Act has been made to apply to the "Treaty
Negotiations Referendum". It deals with when to consider the
certification envelopes (when to open the envelope). The three envelope
system used for mail voting includes the inner secret ballot envelope, a
certification envelope and the envelope used to mail the other two.
Signing the certification envelope is the same as signing the register
in a normal election before you are given a ballot. If you spoil your
ballot, and want it to count as a spoiled ballot, you must sign the
certification envelope.

The Election Act provides detailed instructions on how to count votes.
Neither section 121 of the BC Election Act, which provides most of those
details, nor anything like it has been adopted as a regulation for
conducting the count for the "Treaty Negotiations Referendum". We will
just have to trust the question and answer section of the Elections BC
website.

Elections BC has gone to great length to assure voters that voting fraud
through duplicate voting is unlikely to occur. Their website says that
signatures on the certification envelopes can be checked against
signature cards kept on file by Elections BC. Does anyone really believe
that Elections BC will look up the card for every cast ballot and verify
the signature?

What Elections BC does not mention on their site is that in a normal
election ballots are tightly controlled. Never before have over two
million ballots been sent out just like so much junk mail. It is an
offense to vote more than once, but until now the ballots were
controlled so as to make it difficult to commit that offense. The
procedure forced on Elections BC by the Campbell government calls the
integrity of the entire vote into question.
________________________________________________

Articles appearing here may be quoted elsewhere provided that
attribution is made to David Schreck, StrategicThoughts.com

Full articles may be reprinted with attribution and the preservation of
this copyright.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 15:41:57 -0800
From: Jaime Matten <mattenj@uvic.ca>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.75C-CCK-MCD {C-UDP; EBM-APPLE} (Macintosh; U; PPC)
X-Accept-Language: en,pdf
To: board-l@uvss.uvic.ca, newboard@uvss.uvic.ca, nsu@uvic.ca, wcentre@uvic.ca,
vipirg@uvic.ca, socolour@uvic.ca, action-victoria-l@uvss.uvic.ca,
feb6@uvss.uvic.ca
Subject: Actions: boycott treaty referendum
Sender: owner-action-victoria-l@uvss.uvic.ca
Reply-To:
X-Loop: PEP build Mar 26 2002 17:26:51 (http://www.islandnet.com/pep.html)

**PLEASE POST WIDELY**

Students' Society Urges Boycott of Treaty Referendum

In response to the BC Liberals referendum on treaty negotiations, the
University of Victoria Students' Society is asking students, faculty,
staff and community members to boycott the process.

Ballots are currently being mailed out to all registered voters in
British Columbia. The ballots contain eight questions concerning
Aboriginal rights and the treaty process. However, the questions are so
ambiguous that there is no clear way to reject the premises of the
referendum by voting no.

Aboriginal organizations, including the Native Students' Union, see the
referendum as fundamentally unconstitutional and disrespectful, and are
asking supporters to boycott the process by returning unused ballots to
organizations that are collecting them as a show of solidarity.

The Students' Society Resource Centre in the Student Union Building (Rm.
B103) will be uses as a collection site for boycotted ballots. The
Students' Society urges you to bring your blank ballot to the Resource
Centre as a means of protesting the referendum.

Ballot Instructions:
o Place unanswered ballots into the envelope provided (there are two
envelopes provided, but you can ignore the 'secrecy envelope' as your
ballot will not be marked).
o Fill out required information (i.e. name, address, etc) on the outside
of the envelope
o Bring ballot, in sealed envelope, to the University of Victoria
Students' Society Resource Centre (Rm. B103) in the Student Union
Building and place in the boycott ballot box provided.

For more information on the referendum, please contact the University of
Victoria Students' Society at 721-8366 or resource@uvic.ca or access any
of the websites listed below.
The government's announcement
http://www.gov.bc.ca/tno/news/2002/referendum_treaty_principals.htm
Elections BC
http://www.elections.bc.ca/referendum/referendum_main.html
The BC Treaty Referendum Office
http://www.treatyreferendum.ca/default.htm
BC Treaty Commission
http://www.bctreaty.net
The First Nations Summit
http://www.fns.bc.ca
The Union of BC Indian Chiefs
http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/welcome.htm
United Native Nations
http://www.unns.bc.ca
BC Federation of Labour
http://www.bcfed.com

In solidarity,
--
Jaime Matten, Chairperson
University of Victoria Students' Society
Canadian Federation of Students Local 44
(250) 721-8370 Fax (250) 472-4379

"Education is a right"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BC NDP Newswire - April 3, 2002

BC NDP URGES SUPPORTERS TO BOYCOTT REFERENDUM

The British Columbia New Democratic Party is asking its supporters across
the province to boycott the referendum on treaty negotiations now in the
mail.

The announcement was made last night during a province-wide teleconference
meeting of the Party's Provincial Council delegates and constituency
association representatives.

"There should be no referendum on minority rights," said Party President
Maura Parte. "It's a waste of money at a time when the Liberals are crying
poor, and instead of bringing British Columbians together it's going to
drive us apart."

"B.C.'s economy is hurting," said Parte. "Our rural communities have already
been hit hard enough - the last thing they need is the conflict and
uncertainty that this referendum will bring."

"Only fair and honourable treaties with B.C.'s First Nations can provide the
reconciliation, the social justice and the economic opportunity our province
so desperately seeks."

"Aboriginal British Columbians are asking their fellow citizens to show
their support for the treaty process by abstaining from participation in the
referendum. The B.C. NDP is supporting that call. We are urging our members
and supporters to boycott the referendum."

Provincial Secretary Ed Lavalle explained why the Party is not advocating
spoiling ballots.

"Aboriginal representatives see the referendum as fundamentally
unconstitutional and disrespectful," said Lavalle. "While they have
suggested negotiation and reconciliation, the government has responded with
questions which impose preconditions on the whole process."

"The aboriginal community feels that returning spoiled or blank ballots
helps validate the referendum because it's a form of participation."

Lavalle added that the referendum questions are so ambiguous that there's no
clear way to reject the premises of the referendum by voting no.

"No matter how the questions are answered, the Liberal government gets the
answers it wants. That's why we're asking supporters to simply boycott the
ballot by just throwing it away or giving it to local organizations who may
be collecting unused ballots to show solidarity with First Nations."

For more news and information, visit http://www.bc.ndp.ca

"The overriding principle must be that there will be no net increase
taxes."

-Gordon Campbell September 24, 1998, Speech to the Union of BC
Municipalities Convention - Penticton
http://www.bcliberals.com/news/speeches/speech0928981.htm

E-Mail:mstewart@csc.uvic.ca
Cell: (250) 885-2376

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: "rose henry" <pheonixstar62@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Fw: referendum update and strategy - Check provincial news
April 5th (fwd)
Date: Tue, 02 Apr 2002 09:44:38 -0800

Please come and show your support for our community. We have two events
this week the First one is tommorrow at Elections BC our Native Youth
Movement are rallying at one . The address is 1075 Pendergast (near Cook,
Southgate - Fairfield area) and the other is that we have a group of people
who are walking from Nanaimo to the Leg. They left Easter Monday and plan
to be here in Victoria on Friday at speaker Corner near Commercial Alley &
Yates & Wharf Street. They are thirty-five particapants in this walk and
hope to grow along the way.

Our Next meeting will be at 620 View Street-fourth floor at a new time of
six o'clock on Monday April 8. We have to confirmed speakers and a location
which will be anounced closer to our choosen date. Many of you will be
receiving your ballots in the mail shortly please what ever you do not
discard them, or mail them in if you don't understand what you are doing or
want to show your support for the First Nations Community.Hang on to them
until April the 20, bring them in to Cap. Reg. Race Relations or give them
to me on the street I don't care just don't send them in.

These questions are just for you to find out how well you do know your
neighbors. If you choose to send this back to me with some answers then yes
I will know how well you know Canada's First People and that You will have
basic know about them before you cast you ballot.
1) What Nationality are you?

Status - C-31 metis or Other

2) Can you name four First Nations Tribes from BC?

If yes please print their names

3) How many First Nations do you know either personally or in your
perfessional life?

3-A) If you do know one how long have you known them?

4) How many reserves in Canada Have a highway running through them?

5) Was there ever a treaty signed in BC (Before the Nishga')

If so what treaty was it? and who signed it?

6) Do you believe that all status card holding First Nations people do not
have to pay taxes?

7) How many acres in 1860 -64 were allowed per family?

10 acres 20 acres 50acres or
none of the mentioned

8) What year was the royal proclaimation recognized?

8-A) What did it recognize

Indian Nations with Land

8-B) Indian Nation with Terriotories

9) Who could cede this the Indians or the crown?

10) What year was it when the province of BC First Opened its Treaty Office?

11) What year was it that First Nations could official vote in a provincial
election?

For your Information in 1998 the Aboriginal population was 150,000 in BC.
The non-status population in that same year was 3.900,000.

In 1872 First Nations people were not permitted to vote in provincial
elections

In 1876 Reservations and Indian Bands were created by the Federal Indian
Act. With this creation the right for First Nations People of Canada were
restricted. This meaning that our ancestors could not leave the reservation
without a pass given out only by the asigned Indian agency and of course at
his descreation. First Nations men were deployed into Canada's war at the
cost of them losing their lives, family, culture and everything that gave
them a place in their community. Even thouhg it is now in the Canadian
History that it was the First Nations men who helped win the war because
they spoke in their native language Canada's First First Nations men were
never given they same recognization as the non-status community until
approximately 70 plus years later. The only way many of our ancestors could
escape the reservation and the army was to be placed in a residently
boarding school which was just as bad if not worst. The last resident
school closed in 1978.>To: "rose henry" , "NSU Listserv" , "Linda Ross" ,
"ldickie@pris.bc.ca" , "kerissa marie" , "kdickie@pris.bc.ca" , "Harvey
Eros Thomas"

>Subject: Fw: referendum update and strategy - Check provincial news April
5th (fwd)
>Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 15:14:14 -0800 (Pacific Standard Time)
>
>Hello again everyone,
>
>Here's the latest re: anti-referendum strategies courtesy of the Union of BC
>Indian Chiefs' policy analyst:
>Basically;
>1) The court injunction was unsuccessful, so the ballots will be sent out
>2) The UBCIC is organising an "active boycott"
>3) Hold on to your ballots (don't burn them or send back "protest ballots")
>4) Read your newspaper on April 5th to find out where to drop off or send
>your ballots
>5) Keep checking the Chiefs' website for updates
>
>Please forward this email to those who may be interested.
>Lana
>-------Original Message-------
>
>From: nhetu@uvic.ca
>Date: March 27, 2002 02:41:15 PM
>To: CAAGMAIG@UVVM.UVIC.CA
>Subject: referendum update and strategy - Check provincial news April 5th
>(fwd)
>
>Greetings IGOV'ers,
>
>Please refer to the ubcic webpage for future referendum updates at:
>
>http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/referendum.htm
>
>The Jack Woodward and Judith Sayer's court injunction to reveal the
>problematics of the referendum questions and the process itself, was
>unsuccessful. In short, Judge Hutchinson ruling was based upon the argument
>that "irreparable harm" caused to the negotiations of the BCTC Process, is
>merely hypothetical.
>The second argument in the ruling was on the grounds
>that stalling the referendum process would be costly to the tax-payers!
>However, Robert Janes of Cook & Co. will be launching another legal
>challenge
>very soon, premised on the lack of provincial jurisdiction. The province
>does
>not have the constitutional authority to ask these type of questions and
>implement the results. If people are interested in lending support (in
>various means) please contact the First Nations Treaty Negotiation Alliance
>(250) 755-7824 or Robert Janes of Cook & Co. directly.
>What UBCIC has decided
>to do is participate in the collection of ballots within this "active
>boycott". Merely re-sending the ballots back to the province becomes
>ineffective because BC Elections will not count rejected votes, or votes
>that
>have written comments on them, they will only count yes or no votes, so your
>rejected ballot will not be counted. Also, if you participate by sending in
>a
>rejected ballot, you are giving life and legitimizing the process itself. So
>
>the strategy we have agreed to participate within, is to send the ballots,
>in
>this "active boycott" to the designated repository (which there is a
>designated office) however we are awaiting confirmation of this process. So
>hold on to your ballots until April 5th or check out the website for future
>updates.
>On, April 5th there will be an ad in all the major dailies
>instructing people who are on-side with the "active boycott," as to where to
>send their ballots, and the necessary details as to how they will be counted
>(or not) and possibly destroyed at a public press conference, where various
>Indigenous leaders will explain the illegitimacy of this referendum process.
>That is all for now, Please see the attachement by Susan Clarke (250)
>478-6906
>Susan clearly explains the voting process and the counting procedures of
>Elections BC, most especially the redundancy of sending a rejected vote back
>to the province.
>So in short: Hold off. Read the daily newspaper's on April
>5th that will offer specific locations as to where your ballot can be sent
>to,
>also the details will be provided as to what will happen with the gathered
>ballots once they are sent to the repository. Talk to you later, Migizikwe

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: "rwalpole" <rwalpole@pacificcoast.net>
Subject: Fw: Response from Elections BC on Referendum Procedures
Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 18:35:31 -0800

From: David Schreck <Schreck@StrategicThoughts.com>
David Schreck http://www.StrategicThoughts.com

Response from Elections BC on Referendum Procedures

Elections BC has responded to my requests asking 1) how the vote will be
reported, 2) whether an offence is committed when a ballot is given to
an organization like a First Nation as part of a protest, and 3) why
they removed the protest instructions from their website.

Chief Electoral Officer, Robert A. Patterson wrote that the number of
any unopened certification envelopes will be reported. He also advises
that the vote count will report the number of yes, no and rejected
ballots for each question. A blank ballot would be counted as rejected
for each of the eight questions.

Mr. Patterson went on to say that Section 260 of the Election Act has
been made to apply to the "Treaty Negotiations Referendum". That section
reads as follows:

Offences in relation to ballots and other election materials
260 (1) An individual or organization who does any of the following
without authority under this Act commits an offence:
(a) supplies a ballot to an individual or organization;
(b) prints or reproduces a ballot or a paper that is capable of being
used as a ballot;
(c) takes a ballot out of a place where voting proceedings are being
conducted;
(d) puts in a ballot box, or causes to be put in a ballot box, anything
other than a ballot that an individual is authorized to deposit there;
(e) destroys, takes, opens or otherwise interferes with a ballot paper,
ballot, certification envelope, ballot box or voting book.
(2) An individual or organization who commits an offence under
subsection (1) is liable to a fine of not more than $5 000 or
imprisonment for a term not longer than one year, or both.

It could be argued that Section 260 exists in the context of other
sections of the Election Act and in particular in the context of Section
105 which rigorously controls how a postal ballot (alternative ballot)
can be obtained. It certainly was not written in the context of
Elections BC sending out over 2 million ballots like so much junk mail.

It appears that First Nations who are planning to protest by collecting
ballots and using them as part of a demonstration will have to challenge
the application of Section 260 of the Election Act.

The Manager of Corporate Communications for Elections BC has advised me
by email that the section on the Elections BC website that gave clear
instructions on how to cast a protest vote was replaced because "...
reference in the first line of the answer to a "protest vote" were
misleading to the public. As there is no reference in the referendum
legislation or regulation to a protest vote, and for clarity, it was
determined by Elections BC that it would be best to remove reference to
a protest vote from our website." Elections BC replaced the section on
how to cast a protest vote with a section on rejected votes that many
would find confusing.

I remain of the opinion that the best way to respond to the referendum
is simply not to vote. It is encouraging that the four BC Bishops of the
Anglican Church are asking people to cast either a no or a protest vote.
It is unfortunate but consistent that the Campbell government has
adopted a regulation that would require legal action in the face of
threatened fines if First Nations carry out their plans to gather
ballots for a demonstration.

The Chief Electoral Officer also wrote that the signature will be
verified on all certification envelopes will be verified before the
envelopes are opened. Perhaps Mr. Patterson is expecting an even lower
turnout than most media pundits, or perhaps he is straining credibility.
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Western Canada Wilderness Committee

Western Canada Wilderness Committee