SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
One advocate of prisoners' rights is relieved to know inmates in Yellowknife will be able to vote at a correctional centre polling station in this year's federal election, despite recent confusion about whether or not it would be an option.

Lydia Bardak, executive director of the John Howard Society of the NWT, said she was alarmed last week when she phoned Elections Canada to offer her services for the North Slave Correctional Centre polling station during the upcoming federal election, only to be told there might not be an opportunity for inmates to vote in Yellowknife this year.

"I was told, 'Oh well, we don't know if we'll be doing it,'" Bardak said, adding she was shocked. "I said, 'You kind of have to.'"

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects the right of all incarcerated people to vote in federal elections, which was prohibited under an older version of the Canada Elections Act. In 2002, a Supreme Court decision ruled that denying prisoners the right to vote was unconstitutional.

The Elections Canada staff person Bardak spoke to on the phone asked if she was willing to volunteer at a different polling station instead.

"I said no, I could not justify taking a day off work to do that. But for the correctional centre, it fits very well with the John Howard Society, so it's a legitimate absence from my office to be assisting with that," she said.

The John Howard Society is a non-profit organization that advocates effective and humane correctional and criminal justice policies in Canada. Bardak worked as a polling clerk at the Yellowknife jail in 2006, which not everyone can do. For security reasons elections officials must already have special clearance to enter the correctional facility, which requires more than a standard criminal record check.

This was another reason Bardak was willing to offer her services again, and why she was surprised to hear that polling might not be offered.

Leanne Nyirfa, an Elections Canada spokesperson, could not explain why Bardak was given that incorrect information about voting at the Yellowknife jail.

"There will indeed be a polling station at the North Slave Correctional Centre between the dates of Oct. 6 and 9," she said.

"A staff member in each institution is appointed a liaison officer and it's that person's job to facilitate the process of registering and voting."

This liaison officer must provide inmates with application forms in order to register to vote. Voting in correctional facilities are always held at least 10 days before election day.

According to Catherine Latimer, executive director of the national arm of the John Howard Society, the voter turnout among incarcerated electors is actually comparable to the national average.

"The prisoner voting numbers that I have seen are for federal prisons and they are said to be 54 per cent of eligible prisoners voted compared to the general population at 61 per cent," she said.

Bardak said she is relieved to know that it was just a misunderstanding and not an act of discrimination, adding that there are many people who do hold the view that prisoners should not be allowed to vote.

"It's not a privilege, it's a right. Because Canada is a democratic country, every Canadian citizen has the right to vote," she said.

"Being in prison is the punishment, we don't punish prisoners. ... They still are Canadian citizens protected by our rights and freedoms."