Voter card errors, no election day polls in fly-in First Nations lead to concerns of disenfranchisement

For Angela Petiquan of Wabauskang, a First Nation in the Kenora riding in northwestern Ontario, election day this year was going to be an important one. 

She's voted in every election she can remember, but hearing how close the race was expected to be in Kenora, Petiquan wanted to ensure her voice and vote counted.

After a long day of driving and running errands, she stopped at her house and checked her voter registration card one last time. What she saw surprised her.

The card told Petiquan her polling station was in Slate Falls First Nation, about 260 kilometres — or roughly a six-hour drive — northeast of her home. The voter registration card for her son, who lives with Petiquan, said his polling station was in Vermilion Bay, a town more than 60 kilometres south of their home.

The registration card for a third citizen living in Wabauskang, which was also shared with CBC News, showed a polling station in Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, a fly-in First Nation hundreds of kilometres northeast of the First Nation.

The correct polling station, Petiquan later learned, was in Vermilion Bay. But after much frustration and tired from a long day, Petiquan and her son decided they didn't have the energy to drive another hour each way to cast their votes.

Instead, Petiquan was left upset and with a bunch of questions about the whole process.