Lots of spoiled mail-in ballots Northeast Town, Assiginack and Central voters can check and receive new ballots if necessary

by Lindsay Kelly

MANITOULIN-Spoiled ballots are threatening to skew the upcoming municipal election in at least two Island municipalities, because many voters-thinking they have sent in their mail-in ballots with their preferred choices for council clearly marked-don't realize that they're filling out the ballots wrong, making their votes void.

The contentious issue was first raised by Councillor Jim Stringer at a recent Northeast Town council meeting, where he expressed concern that, as of November 1, 264 ballots were considered "spoiled," which means that voters have either failed to send back their declaration, which must accompany their ballot, or they have not signed it.

"A significant portion of people have already voted by mail," Councillor Stringer said. "They can come in and vote again if they know they have voted wrong. But there have been 264 spoiled ballots so far-that's a lot of votes-and voters don't know it."

As of November 1st's tally, 1,352 mail-in votes had been submitted, with 264 considered spoiled, meaning that only 1,088 of those votes can be counted.

Ballots can also be spoiled if they are marked incorrectly, or if their declarations are included in the same envelope as their ballot; however, election officers won't know if this is the case until the ballots are opened and counted following the election.

Part of the problem, clerk Janet Moore explained, is that the ballots have changed their format from the one used during the election three years ago. In 2003, two separate sheets of instructions were included in the voting package, and the declaration-the detachable portion of the ballot voters are to sign to indicate that they have voted-appeared on the front of one of those sheets.

In this election, however, the declaration appears on the back of the instruction page, and voters must turn this page over to locate, detach and sign their declaration. The new format comes with the use of a new firm, Datafix, which is managing the voting process.

Some voters are forgetting to place their declaration in with the return envelope, while others are intentionally leaving it out, believing that in signing their name, the returning officer will know who they voted for.

That is not the case, Ms. Moore emphasized. "There is a secrecy ballot, and that goes in the (white) envelope with nothing else," she explained. "Then, the voter signs their declaration on the back and that goes into the return (yellow) envelope. We do not know who they voted for."

A third problem arose when it was pointed out that many voters don't realize they have voted wrongly, and are unaware that they can recast their ballot. But, "we can give them another ballot if they forget to include their declaration," Ms. Moore said.

Ms. Moore can't compare the number of spoiled ballots with the number from the last election because "we didn't keep track of them," she said. However, she's confident that, with more ballots getting to the right addresses, the numbers will balance themselves out at the close of this election.

Ms. Moore also reminded voters that they have up until 8 pm on the day of the election-November 13-to turn in a ballot. If they live in town, or can drive into town, they can deliver their ballot in person, she added. But if you are still unsure that you have voted correctly, call the Northeast Town office at 368-3500, extension 228. Ms. Moore at the office will check to see if your name has been checked off the voter's list. If it hasn't been, that means that you didn't include your signed declaration with your ballot, and you will be able to pick up another ballot package and complete it correctly.

It should be noted that the news of the Northeast Town voting process was not all doom and gloom. Ms. Moore reported that the Northeast Town mailed out more ballots during this election, and fewer ballots were returned due to a wrong address, meaning that the process is becoming more streamlined as their voter list becomes more accurate.

As of November 1, 75 had been deemed undeliverable because they were sent to wrong addresses, while 250 were returned during the 2003 election. This is, in part, due to the new software, which Ms. Moore said is "improving the list that MPAC (Municipal Property Assessment Corporation) provides."

Datafix also ensures that voters can't vote twice, because once a vote is received, a bar code on the declaration is scanned, automatically crossing the name of the voter off the list.

In Assiginack, the township is also using Datafix as its mail-in ballot provider, and has been experiencing similar problems to the Northeast Town.

Clerk and electoral officer Alton Hobbs was unavailable for comment; however, a township representative indicated that Assiginack is also receiving spoiled ballots under similar circumstances.

"We have been experiencing some difficulties as well, but I'm not sure we have the same numbers as NEMI," he said.

Voters can call the township at 859-3196 to verify that they have voted correctly and have been crossed off the list.

Central Manitoulin, which is using the mail-in ballot system for the second election, is also receiving some spoiled ballots, and clerk Ruth Frawley concedes that the primary reason is that people are not signing their declaration. However, she said the township's numbers of spoiled ballots are far less than those in either of the other two townships.

"The percentage is not very high," she said. "As of today (November 6), we've had 1,015 votes, and three percent have been rejected."

She explains the low numbers by the fact that this is the second time Central Manitoulin has used the mail-in ballot process, and people are becoming accustomed to the system.

"I find people are understanding the process more," she said. "I've had a lot less inquiries."

Ms. Frawley said she believes that an information session held three years ago on the then-new system, to educate the voting public on how to vote by mail, also helped, because it showed them a step-by-step process for completing ballots.

The township is using a different system than that of the other two townships, employing Canada Post for the task, which is the same company the township used in the last election.

Ms. Frawley said on Monday that election officers were in the process of opening return envelopes submitted over the last week, and noted that the bulk of ballots were coming in during this final week of the election. She estimated that this was because Friday, November 3 was the recommended day by which people were to send in their ballots.

She also said that she expected a rather low voter turnout because the position for reeve, as well as the positions for councillors in Wards 1 and 2, are acclaimed, and only representatives for Sandfield and school board trustee need to be elected.

"I don't expect voter turnout to be very high," she confirmed. "Maybe 33 percent, or even lower: 30 percent."

In real numbers, she said that this would be the equivalent of 1,000 votes, out of the 3,300 residents eligible to cast ballots. "But it's not because of the mail-in ballots," she was quick to add. "It's because of the election itself."

If voters are unsure of whether or not they have voted correctly, they can double-check by calling the township office at 377-5726.

At the conclusion of the debate at Northeast Town council last week, Councillor Stringer suggested that council should inform voters of their right to vote again, indicating that it would be in the best interest of voters, as well as those running, to educate voters of the possibility for error.

However, Mayor Joe Chapman was insistent that once the electoral process begins, "council should not be involved in any way in the electoral process."

Ms. Moore echoed this sentiment, saying, "We don't want to give the perception that the town has had an influence on the election. Everybody has had the same chance. The only thing we can do is leave it up to the candidates."

As such, Northeast Town candidates will be given voter lists indicating who has voted so they can approach voters themselves encouraging them to double-check that they have voted correctly, although "it does mean a lot of work for them if they want to follow through," Ms. Moore said.

In addition, an ad that has appeared for the last few weeks detailing the process of voting will be reprinted in the pages of the Expositor this week.

Ms. Moore said that the best way for voters to ensure their vote will count, is to carefully consider the process before sealing the envelope.

"Read the instructions," she advised. "If you're going to sit down and take the time to vote, take the time to do it right. It only takes a minute more."

Private bill would strip cormorants of refuge under law

...they would have same status as crows, grackles

by Michael Erskine

TORONTO-Prince Edward-Hastings MPP Ernie Parsons hopes to get his private member's bill through the Legislature by Christmas, and if he does it will be literally open season on cormorants-an event that would be considered a bonus present under the tree for most members of the province's commercial fishery and fish and game club communities.

Mr. Parsons' bill proposes that cormorants be put on the same footing as crows and the common grackle as birds that can be eliminated with extreme prejudice without any fear of reprisal from the powers that be.

"We have a huge problem with cormorants down our way," said Mr. Parsons, whose riding includes the famed confines of Presqu'ile Park, the site of a Ministry of Natural Resources cull that killed nearly 6,000 of the fish-eating avians this summer. "We call them the flying gill nets around here."

"We have had this on the agenda for quite a few years," said Bill Hudgins, of the United Fish and Games Clubs of Manitoulin, when informed of the bill. "This is really going to help us a lot to control the problem, especially on the inland lakes."

"We are very pleased about this development," said Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Mike Brown. "My constituency office is looking into setting up some petitions so people can express their support for Ernie's bill. Even the Minister of Natural Resources has said his ministry supports this bill."

Mr. Brown noted that support for the bill crosses many party lines and support is more indicative of whether the member lives in a rural riding impacted by the birds than any political ideology.

"Almost all of the calls against this bill I have received come from people who do not live in areas where cormorants are a concern," agreed Mr. Parsons, who said bi-partisan support is one of the reasons he feels his private member's bill stands a better-than-normal chance of making it into law.

People living in urban areas simply do not understand the scale of the problem, continued Mr. Parsons. "The population has just been mushrooming," he said. "We now have between 35,000 and 40,000 breeding pairs. They are just devastating the landscape. It is estimated they are taking something in the neighbourhood of 78,000 pounds of fish a day. I was a great supporter of egg oiling, but it just wasn't doing enough to control the numbers."

Mr. Parsons notes that the sports fishery industry in his area is a $24.5 million industry in his riding, and that industry, he asserts, is being placed in grave danger by burgeoning cormorant numbers.

Julie Woodyer, a spokesperson for Cormorant Defenders International, disagrees with the bill, and indeed with the whole premise upon which the anti-cormorant hysteria is built.

"A lot of this is predicated on dis-information," she said. "False information being spread by a group known as the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH)."

Ms. Woodyer challenges the assertion that cormorants are eating sports fish. "The science just doesn't support that claim," she said. "Although the OFAH claims they are eating perch and other so-called sports fish, what they are eating up your way is alewife, and down our way it is the round goby that makes up the bulk of their diet-both of those are invasive species."

Ms. Woodyer said that the rising numbers of cormorants are a win-win situation for the environment. "We should be celebrating the rise of a native species whose numbers were decimated by pollution," she said. "The cormorant has become the natural predator of the round goby."

Instead of killing cormorants, she said, people should be celebrating their return to the lakes.

Ms. Woodyer noted the absurdity of the situation which is developing in British Columbia regarding the blue heron. "Blue herons are also colonial birds," she said. In BC, they are talking about slaughtering blue herons because they eat fish out there."

Because both species tend to gather in colonies, rather than individual nesting sites, suggested Ms. Woodyer, people see the birds in large numbers and are ready to believe the worst about them.

"When you take a cold, hard look at the facts, the science does not support killing these birds," she said. "If you were to suggest culling blue herons in Ontario they would probably try and string you up-but it's just as silly a notion as killing cormorants."

Ms. Woodyer readily agrees her opinion does not win her many friends in the places where cormorants are reviled. "I have probably gotten more calls from people upset about my stand on cormorants than about any other creatures I have defended combined."

EDITORIAL

Ottawa 'valiant' memorials should include Tecumseh

This past weekend's unveiling of a series of statues recognizing several historical Canadians who proved worthy in times of war is a first rate idea, but one that is remarkably flawed in its execution.

The figures-"valiants" as they are termed in this display-are life-size representations of a variety of people who have been deemed either significant or representative in the defence of Canada.

In an historical timeline, the oldest figure of the 14 representations is of Louis comte de Frontenac who, in 1690, as governor of New France, organized and managed the defence of Quebec against a British siege.

Frontenac and the other 13 bronze figures that are situated near the National War Memorial in downtown Ottawa represent Canada's early French regime, the American revolutionary period, the War of 1812 and the First and Second World Wars.

There are two women among the 14 valiants: Laura Secord, the heroine of the War of 1812, and Georgina Pope, a pioneering army nurse who served in both the Boer War and First World War.

There is one Native valiant: Joseph Brant, who is credited with siding with the British during the US War of Independence (1775-1783) and, as a chief and warrior, bringing his people north to southern Ontario to settle the present-day Six Nations Territory near Brantford, the town named in his honour.

The valiants already mentioned and the other half-dozen are all worthy and representative.

But there is a large missing element and that is Tecumseh, the warrior, orator and gifted politician without whose significant efforts, many historians feel, the British defence of Canada during the War of 1812 would not have been successful.

Tecumseh, for some strange reason, has had a difficult time finding official recognition.

He, as an ally of Sir Isaac Brock, was able to knit together a confederacy of both Six Nations and Anishnabe people, on both sides of the Canada-US border, who would fight for the British cause in defence of Canada.

Tecumseh was killed in battle, as was Sir Isaac Brock, some little time later.

But Brock, in addition to his statutory likeness now adorning a plaza of the National War Memorial, many years ago had a tall cylindrical tower erected in his memory high above the Niagara River at Queenston, near the battlefield where he fell.

At the foot of the driveway that leads to the imposing Brock Monument there is a representation of Sir Isaac Brock's horse.

And on the same grounds as the horse statue is a small stone with a metal plaque on it that indicates, modestly, that Tecumseh was also a player in the War of 1812.

He would be, indeed should be, proper and fitting company to the 14 valiants whose statues Governor-General Michaelle Jean unveiled on Sunday in Ottawa.

But, once again, this larger-than-life character has been overlooked when he should not have been.

Tecumseh-who, like Brock, has a town named after him in southwestern Ontario and a rural municipality in Central Ontario-should be one of the valiants, and his likeness should be crafted and stood up among his contemporaries Sir Isaac Brock and Laura Secord.

Laura Secord's is a nice story. But Tecumseh mobilized allies for the British cause all along the western part of Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Southern Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.

Let us see a revisiting of this field of valiants that will include Tecumseh.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Islanders should do their part to honour Canadian soldiers

Wearing a poppy just one of many ways to show support

To the Expositor:

This Remembrance Day, along with wearing a poppy, let's show our men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces we care.  There are many families on the Island who have friends or family members currently enlisted. Whether or not you support the war, let's support our troops.

There are many ways you can do this: 1) wear red on Fridays; 2) be a part of the Yellow Ribbon Campaign and tie ribbons around poles, trees and light fixtures; 3) post a message on the National Defence board; 4) go to www.cfpsa.com go to Canex and order special "Support Our Troops" merchandise; 5)  various individuals and pharmacies are collecting items to be sent to the soldiers in Afghanistan (past Readers Digests, hard candy, beef jerky).

John and Colleen Caselton

Manitowaning

Native-controlled family services agency needed

Model developed by Euro-British thinking is racist, ineffective

To the Expositor:

RE: "First Nations' child agency must be based on local norms," November 1.

The issue of a foreign entity, developed by Euro-British thinking in our Aboriginal communities like the Children's Aid Society, has been going on for decades. In my mind, our children are big business for this industry. It creates jobs; it's a cash grab for would-be foster parents; it benefits the justice system and it fills beds for treatment services for our children. The sad thing about this whole set-up is our children are gone forever and that is why I deem it genocidal. I can say the above because I was a former CAS Crown ward who experienced this situation.

As of this year, the Children's Aid Societies are to look for positives instead of negatives on families and they will continue to be unaccountable. Again, I question how these changes will be culturally appropriate, and who will it benefit? It should not take much thinking as our people have not had good experiences with a racist, narrow-minded system!

I believe the current child welfare system has many flaws, even the so-called Native-operated ones that are no better than any other CAS in Ontario. We have staff educated by non-Native standards who do not understand Aboriginal people, who do not speak my language and have little clue of being an Anishnabek person.  Although methods of "Indianizing" child welfare are apparent, the practices are unworkable and fruitless.  An example would be: when I tried to utilize a Native-operated agency for culturally appropriate services, a young non-Native person approached me and she wanted to tell me about my seven grandfather teachings. How absurd is this? I thought. Or did management somehow phase out all the Native employees?

In addition, the CAS of the day has hidden under a cloak of secrecy-for example, under privacy laws, freedom of information, family reform, and youth justice. Now it faces legal challenges within our justice system for its acts against our children.

I agree with M'Chigeeng lawyer Susan Hare: "Simply putting a 'brown' agency in place will not work. Our communities want to put in place our own regulations based on our own culture and traditions."

In closing, if my chief and council in Wikwemikong advocated for a family service agency-and they should-I would support it. And I would want it to be Native controlled, developed by our people, with a strong cultural component which contains a treatment program for youth, with a resolution process for parents. Without this, given the CAS history, you can expect continued resistance on this issue.

John Fox

Wikwemikong band member, former CAS Crown ward

Thunder Bay

Reader concerned about long-term care Bill 140

Result will be closure of Island long-term care facilities

To the Expositor:

I am greatly concerned about our Ontario government's proposed Bill 140.

On Monday evening, October 30, Karen LeHoux of Manitoulin Lodge Nursing Home in Gore Bay spoke to our seniors' group in Providence Bay. She pointed out that while many of the provisions of the bill are good, the final outcome of it will be the closing of small nursing homes like the ones we have in Gore Bay, Little Current and Wikwemikong.

Then the clients of these small homes would go to the larger centres such as Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie or North Bay.

The new standards, which Bill 140 calls for, are very expensive, and even should a small home comply, there is no assurance that they would not be closed down in 10 years or less.

On Tuesday afternoon, October 31, I talked about Bill 140 with Central Manitoulin's Reeve Richard Stephens. He told me that for many years he had aunts in the Manor in Little Current and that he visited them many times.

Had they been in Sudbury, for instance, this would not have been possible. Mr. Stephens said, "we don't need a Cadillac." What our seniors need is simply care, and basically that is what our three homes on Manitoulin are providing.

Should I some day become a client in a nursing home, I want it to be right here on Manitoulin where relatives and friends can visit me.

Robert (Bert) Hill

Providence Bay