When were Indigenous peoples granted the federal vote?

Indigenous peoples were granted the federal vote on July 1, 1960 when Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's federal An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (8-9 Elizabeth II, c. 7, Bill C-2) took effect. The Act extended the federal franchise to status Indians (registered Indians under the Indian Act) without requiring loss of Indian status. Inuit had previously gained the federal vote in 1950 but had limited practical access until polling stations were established in the North. Métis had been able to vote since they were not classified under the Indian Act.

Before 1960, the federal Elections Act had excluded status Indians from the federal franchise except in certain limited circumstances. Status Indians could vote only if they were veterans (under the Indian Veterans Act of 1951), if they had been forcibly enfranchised (lost Indian status under the voluntary enfranchisement provisions of the Indian Act), if they had served in the Canadian Forces and held an honourable discharge (allowed for some First World War veterans), or if they signed a waiver agreeing to give up income tax exemptions and other Indian Act rights. Most Indigenous people refused these conditions.

The Diefenbaker government's broader approach to Indigenous policy combined the 1960 federal franchise extension with the 1960 Canadian Bill of Rights (which formally guaranteed equal rights without discrimination based on race) and the appointment of the federal Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Commons on the Indian Act in 1959 (which heard Indigenous views and produced reports recommending policy changes). Diefenbaker's appointed Senator James Gladstone (a Blackfoot from the Siksika Nation, sworn in February 1, 1958) was the first Indigenous Member of the Senate of Canada.

Provincial enfranchisement of Indigenous peoples followed different timelines. British Columbia was the first province to enfranchise Indigenous peoples on March 31, 1949. Manitoba followed in 1952, Ontario in 1954, Saskatchewan in 1960 (the same year as the federal extension), Prince Edward Island in 1963, New Brunswick in 1963, Alberta in 1965, and Quebec in 1969. Nova Scotia and Newfoundland had never excluded Indigenous voters from provincial elections. The 1960 federal extension was symbolically important but was limited in immediate practical effect: Indigenous turnout in federal elections remained low for many years, partly due to remoteness, lack of polling places on reserves, and the legacy of colonial policies. More substantive Indigenous self-government and constitutional recognition came later, including section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996), and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2015).