Indigenous turnout remains low in Quebec amid calls for political inclusion

POLITICS Indigenous turnout remains low in Quebec amid calls for political inclusion By Marieke Glorieux-Stryckman Global News Posted September 14, 2026 8:01 am 5 min read WATCH: Quebec election campaign reaches midway point; how are the parties doing? LEAVE A COMMENT SHARE THIS ITEM ON FACEBOOK SHARE THIS ITEM ON X SEND THIS PAGE TO SOMEONE VIA EMAIL SEE MORE SHARING OPTIONS DESCREASE ARTICLE FONT SIZE INCREASE ARTICLE FONT SIZE There are a number of signs scattered along the suburban streets of the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, across the river from Montreal. A few of them have messages that read “Every Child Matters” or “This is Mohawk Land.” Some feature the local language of Kanien’kéha. But election campaign posters or signs are nowhere to be found in Kahnawake, even though a Quebec general election is only a few weeks away. “We don’t want to participate or be involved in (the elections) in any way, nor do we want it to be right in our face,” said Mohawk Council of Kahnawake Grand Chief Cody Diabo. If someone tried to put up a sign, they’re swiftly taken down, said Diabo. Recently, a video of someone tearing down a sign of Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon that had been installed at the outskirts of Kahnawake made the rounds online. In the video, a man appears to use a sledgehammer to knock out the wooden stakes propping up the poster at the edge of the highway. STORY CONTINUES BELOW ADVERTISEMENT Diabo said that most people in the community view both provincial and federal elections as if they were taking place in a different country. Numbers compiled over the past two decades reflect how Kahnawake and many other Indigenous communities in Quebec have largely turned away from participating in Quebec elections. In May, the province’s electoral oversight agency, Élections Québec, published data showing the average voter turnout for provincial elections in Indigenous communities in Quebec was at about 19 per cent since 2007, compared to close to 68 per cent provincewide. These rates vary from community to community. In Wendake, a community in the Quebec City region, 1012 out of 1691 registered voters cast their ballots in 2022. Turnout has been much lower in Akwesasne, where no one voted in 2022 even though the community had 1423 registered voters. Over the past two decades, only one person has voted in a Quebec election in the community, which is located in the southwestern part of the province, overlapping with Ontario…