(FC057)

Fair Elections Strong Indicator of High Performing First Nations

Statistical connection shows need for electoral reforms

 Elections and Overall Score

 

• Our next set of analyses for our third annual Aboriginal Governance Index looked at the relationship between the overall score and subcategory scores. This shows what subcategories are indicative of performance overall. In this area, the strongest statistical connection was between Elections and the overall score, at a score of .75.

• Bands that create the conditions for free and fair elections, and election dispute resolution processes, tend to have the highest scores overall. This observation seems to justify our decision to rank Elections as one of the highest weightings within our weighting scheme. Elections are fundamental to any equitable and representative governance structure. They provide legitimacy to the whole governing system and tend to produce better results in other areas.   This lack of legitimacy at the highest and most fundamental level could prevent effective policy making in other subcategories.

• With all of the media reports over the last few years focusing on band election issues and with this evidence of strong correlation, it is reasonable to argue First Nations need to focus on improving their band election and dispute resolution mechanism processes, as this leads to higher overall scores.

 

 

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Related Items:

• The Third Annual Aboriginal Governance Index (Policy Series)

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Joseph Quesnel

is a policy analyst at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy who focuses on aboriginal matters and property rights. Based in Lethbridge, Alberta, he is from the Sudbury region of Northern Ontario, and has Metis ancestry from Quebec. He graduated from McGill University in 2001, majoring in political science and history. He specialized in Canadian and American politics, with an emphasis on constitutional law. He is completing a master of journalism degree at Carleton University, where he is specializing in political reporting. For two years, he covered House standing committees, as well as Senate committees. His career in journalism includes several stints at community newspapers in Northern Ontario, including Sudbury and Espanola. He also completed internships at CFRA 580 AM, a talk radio station in Ottawa and the Cable Public Affairs Channel. He writes a weekly column in the Winnipeg Sun and contributes to the Taxpayer, the flagship publication of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Quesnel's policy commentaries have appeared in the Lethbridge Herald, Vancouver Sun, Globe and Mail, Financial Post, and the National Post, among others.