Coming home after a day of work is a daily routine that I used to do effortlessly. I would get off the adapted transportation and head towards the lobby of my building.
Since the installation of a bike lane, things have become much more dangerous… and it happened overnight, without warning.
So you can understand my concern when Elections Canada announced that, for the Terrebonne by-election, the candidate’s name or initials must be written on the ballot.
Voting independently is a gain that visually impaired persons have achieved after a long fight. Elections Canada provides human support, but it’s us who mark the famous X, alone and confidentially, thanks to a braille template.
But a braille template does not allow for writing a name. After going to great lengths to get information, I understood that I should come accompanied, or that an Elections Canada employee could write the name for me. I was taken aback.
This accommodation, intended for persons with functional limitations preventing them from holding a pencil or making a mark, is very important, but it does not meet the needs of a blind person.
A person with a motor limitation can verify if the person has written the correct name. I cannot. Yet, it is a foundation of our democracy.
When I started voting 40 years ago, I would give my vote out loud, in front of an Elections Canada officer and all the parties present at the polling station, to ensure my vote went to the right party.
A very unpleasant and not at all confidential process. A practice that stopped about 25 years ago, when we had braille templates and could vote confidentially.
I believe Elections Canada’s plan does not require the presence of different parties. So, they take into consideration the inability to write, but not the ability to verify the vote.
I understand the issues related to the size of the ballots, but the decision made by Elections Canada deprives us of the possibility to vote independently.
For now, this issue touches Terrebonne, but what is the plan for the future? Think about how you would feel if you had to give your choice out loud without the possibility of verifying that it was correctly recorded. Now, ask yourself why the approximately 320,000 visually impaired persons in Quebec should experience this.
Pascale Dussault, administrator of the Regroupement des aveugles et amblyopes du Québec (RAAQ)
