Here’s a look at some of the Indigenous candidates in Saskatchewan running in the federal election.
All running for the New Democratic Party are Tria Donaldson in Regina-Lewvan; Harmonie King in Desnesthe-Missinippi-Churchill River; Halsten Rust in Yorkton-Melville; and former Métis Nation-Saskatchewan president Robert Doucette in Saskatoon West.
Doucette says Indigenous people need to get out and vote.
“The Indigenous population across this country has a huge amount of power,” says Doucette. “First Nations, Métis and Inuit people, you can elect members of Parliament in a lot of ridings and have a huge influence on this country.”
King says she wants to see better internet access and service in the North.
“There’s a lack of services, can be fragmented here. And we have the highest rates of suicide in Canada.”
Buckley Belanger resigned his seat in the provincial legislature to challenge Conservative incumbent MP Gary Vidal as the Liberal candidate in Desnesthe-Missinippi-Churchill River.
“As a former NDP provincial politician, I wanted to make the jump to federal Liberal party and tell people it’s time for us to first of all vote because we have incredible power to make these changes, and secondly to work together and stop splitting our vote and send one of our own northerners to Ottawa to represent, to share our stories and our solutions,” says Belanger.
Dawn Dumont-Walker of the Okanese First Nation is running for the Liberals in Saskatoon University.
She says she decided to run for the Liberals because she likes how they handled the COVID-19 pandemic and the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at residential school sites.
“I thought that they handled it very well. As a child of residential school survivors, I can’t tell you how powerful it was to hear our prime minister say the word genocide.”
She’s facing off against a Métis woman, North-Marie Hunter from the Green Party.
North-Marie’s brother, Isaiah hunter, is also running for the Greens in Moose Jaw-Lake Centre-Lanigan.
All Indigenous candidates are encouraging Indigenous people to get out and vote.
Saskatchewan currently has no Conservative candidates who identify as Indigenous.
