Six-hour drive to vote? Residents in northern Manitoba riding bemoan ‘ridiculous’ ask from Elections Canada

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This article was published 26/04/2025 (210 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Little Deer resident Joan Buss might have been willing to go on a six-hour road trip if it was to someplace fun during the recent long weekend — but not to vote.

But that’s what Elections Canada wanted Buss, and other Manitoba residents at nearby Matheson Island and Pine Dock, to do in order to cast their ballots at the advanced poll scheduled on April 21.

They all live at the extreme southern edge in the massive Churchill-Keewatinook Aski riding that starts just a few kilometres south of them and goes hundreds of kilometres north, to the province’s border with Nunavut.

To vote, Buss, who lives on the west side of Lake Winnipeg, at the cottage community located north of Hecla Grindstone Provincial Park, was told she would have to go to Berens River School on Berens River First Nation, located on the east side of the lake, 488 kilometres away.

Google Maps says the journey would take five hours and 47 minutes — and that’s one way.

When they received their advance voting card in the mail, they couldn’t believe it.

“I don’t want to travel that far just to vote for five minutes,” Buss said Saturday.

“I don’t understand it. How could they possibly think that this was OK? I think someone picked it without talking to anyone.”

The Churchill-Keewatinook Aski riding had the lowest voter turnout in the province over the four days of advance polling. Only 4,168 voters, or 8.7 per cent of those eligible to vote turned up to cast their ballot.

A record number of Manitobans voted in the advance poll — 229,379 people, a leap of 22 per cent from the 2021 election. More than 7.28 million Canadians participated in the advance voting.

Political pundits said more Manitobans and Canadians took advantage of voting over the long weekend because it was convenient and people didn’t have to worry about taking time off work during a weekday.

Buss said the advance poll for her area was on Matheson Island during the 2021 election.

“That’s 45 minutes away from my house — which is better than six hours,” she said.

She said she will instead vote on election day in Pine Dock, which is 20 minutes away.

Another Little Deer resident, Judy Isaac, who noted there are less than 200 permanent residents in the area, said “it’s just so ridiculous.

“I couldn’t believe it when I saw Berens River. I’ve been to Berens River. There are many closer places to have had the advance poll. I don’t know what happened, but this was definitely an error.”

A spokesperson for Elections Canada said because it is the weekend, and personnel are busy preparing for Monday’s election, she could not find out about the advance poll snafu.

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NDP candidate Niki Ashton said “it’s unfortunate that many communities across our riding didn’t have access to advance vote — and it’s 100 per cent a symptom of (Liberal Leader) Mark Carney calling the shortest election possible.

“Elections Canada has been doing important work given those circumstances, but communities like Matheson Island and Pine Dock are paying the price for Mark Carney’s decision to avoid sordid questions about his past work while chair at Brookfield, including fighting First Nations in court and helping Brookfield become one of Canada’s leading tax avoiders.”

Ashton’s Liberal opponent, Rebecca Chartrand, could not be reached for comment.

A campaign spokesperson said Chartrand was “visiting remote fly-in communities in this last stretch (and) we are well aware of those types of barriers that exist in this riding.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.

Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.