If we recognize that Indigenous groups need representation on same basis as the rest of society, and we see that they are not getting it under FPTP, it seems perhaps some special arrangement is necessary so that they have a voice in the chambers of power commensurate with their population figures - about two to six percent of population.
This thesis examines three routes to effective representation for minority (Indigenous voters in BC). [PDF] The right to effective representation: Towards Indigenous representation in the British Columbia Legislature K Berry - 2023 … In 2018, BC’s NDP government held a referendum on electoral reform, asking residents whether to adopt proportional representation. … Building on the notion of effective representation established by the Supreme Court of Canada’s Carter … This thesis examines the three routes used elsewhere. I discuss them (briefly and partially), and then I present a fourth.
Affirmative gerrymandering - Nova Scotia ... "Some Canadian provinces have already taken steps to improve the representation of certain minority groups in their provincial legislatures. They have done this by drawing “protected constituencies” that have a specific group as a significant proportion of the population within it, which increases their voting power when electing a representative"
Review: "This model does not guarantee that someone from these groups will be elected, as it requires that the group vote together to increase their voting power, meaning that while it is possible that the person elected would provide representation for these groups, this model does not have the same guarantee as the models employed in New 13 Zealand and Croatia."
also may be form of vote "packing", leaving less of minority voters in other districts, securing those sets for the "majority" party
"This model depends somewhat on the group of interest being geographically concentrated, as electoral districts in Canada are typically contiguous. In the case of Nova Scotia, the three existing constituencies represent three of the Acadian homelands where there is an existing community that is sizable enough to make this system work" (p. 17)
"Parallel system" - NZ Maori seats (p. 19-) the Indigenous voting system would have its own districts, and voters who vote here do not vote in mainstream system.
That is how it is done in New Zealand.
Wikipedia says candidates need to be grounded in Maori language and culture to have good connection to voters, etc. but not clear they have to be Maori - I have heard actually that any one can run in Maori districts, that only voters have to be Maori.
from Conclusion: "The trade-off for employing this model in British Columbia is that some of the resulting constituencies will be incredibly large, as many communities outside of the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island are small and widely dispersed" Also, of course, is the weakness of using single-winner districts. size comparison New Zealand is 268,000 sq. kms in size seven Maori electorate (districts) each on average 38,000 sq. kms each containing five to 18 general (mainstream) districts. electing seven members BC is 944,000 sq. kms. 6 percent of population is Indigenous BC has 87 MLAs so five or so MLAs should be Indigenous if BC had five Indigenous districts, they would on average each cover 16 or so non-Indigenous districts. each on average being 189,000 sq. kms. (about two-thirds of all of NZ if that matters) and still with single-winner FPTP, often the majority of votes in each district would be ignored, if the system works the same as it does currently. Croatia's "multiple parallel systems" Croatia uses what might be termed multiple parallel systems, the minority systems using at-large districts, whether electing single or multiple members. two of the minority contests would elect multiple members --
three would elect just one member "the creation of reserved seats for national minorities within the Sabor, the Croatian Parliament. There are eight of these seats, with each assigned to specific minority groups based on the group’s population. Three seats are given to Serbs, one each are given to the Italians and Hungarians, one is shared by the Slovaks and Czechs, and two are reserved for smaller and newer minority groups that have emerged in Croatia since the breakup of Yugoslavia, including the Bosniaks and the Roma (Agarin and Čermák 2019, 53). These seats are filled by representatives selected by voters who have chosen to register as a minority, and who can then choose between voting in the electoral district where they live or for the appropriate minority seat (Agarin and Čermák 2019, 53). ... To elect the national parliament, Croatia is divided into 12 districts: ten electoral districts based on county boundaries each with fourteen representatives elected in each, using proportional representation. additional electoral district are reserved for Croatians living abroad, three members (one party takes all the seats so perhaps Block Voting is used) additional at-large electoral districts for national minorities (or groupings thereof), electing eight in total voters of different groups or groupings vote separately for their own representatives. each of the six contests uses at-large district. encompasses the entire country members in this constituency are elected by voters belonging to 22 recognized minorities in Croatia: the Serb minority elects three MPs, the Hungarians elect one MP Italians elect one MP the Czech and Slovak minorities jointly elect one MP and all other minorities elect the final two MPs, in two separate election contests* Minority MPs are elected by simple plurality system (candidates with the most votes are elected). [not clear whether voters cast as many votes as seats to fill or just one vote)* I have not seen any polling results for the XII district so don't know how many vote in them or in the multi-member contests (Serbian and "all other") whether they cast multiple votes (Block Voting) or single (SNTV).
But likely Block Voting as one party swept the Serbian and All others seats as per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_Parliament_electoral_districts (But it looks like the all others are two separate contests so don't know why one party took both seats.) So apparently system works to ensure guaranteed minority representation, but within the Serbian minority the rule is largest party makes a clean sweep. review: Croatia's Parallel system is like New Zealand, where the Māori vote on a separate electoral roll to other voters. Unlike the other models investigated here, the minority seats in Croatia are not geographically linked, as they are elected by all of the people who identify with the group, no matter where they live in the country. with one seat elected for three of the minority groupings, there is no way to break those contests down to smaller geographic scale. each polling station would be collecting votes for up to seven different parliamentary contests, Perhaps different colour ballots for each separate election contest would be used to aid in the sorting. ======================================== A different way to ensure Indigenous members are elected is here.
this system is based on candidates, not voters - with say five seats reserved for Indigenous members, if no Indigenous candidates are elected in usual district elections, then the five most-popular Indigenous members (best losers) would be named to the Legislature.
Although not winners in district contests, these most-popular of the Indigenous candidates may indeed have received more votes than many candidates elected in district elections, because to be elected in a district may take as few as 30 percent or less of a district votes and districts may have quite a small number of voters or in votes cast if turnout in a district is low.
They would not be elected by Indigenous voters exclusively. Any one Indigenous candidate would not be assured of election, unless only five Indigenous candidates ran anywhere in the province. This is similar to system used in Edmonton city elections to ensure southside (Old Strathcona) representation from 1913 to 1960.
If BC used it, all voters would be free to vote for any candidate - Indigenous or non-Indigenous - running in the district.
no need to separate out Indigenous voters from others or vice versa. ==========
* the election of the minority members in Croatia is complicated. It looks like there are actually six separate at-large elections contests, distinguished by ethnicity: As the Croatian election law describes: Article 16. Members of the Serbian national minority elect three representatives to the Parliament in accordance with the Constitutional Law on the Rights of National Minorities. Members of the Hungarian national minority elect one representative to the Parliament. Members of the Italian national minority elect one representative to Parliament. Members of the Czech and Slovak national minorities jointly elect one representative to the Parliament. Members of the Austrian, Bulgarian, German, Polish, Roma, Romanian, Ruthenian, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Wallachian and Jewish national minorities elect one representative to the Parliament together. Members of the Albanian, Bosniak, Montenegrin, Macedonian and Slovenian national minorities jointly elect one representative to the Parliament. Members of national minorities from paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of this article, in addition to the candidate for representative, also propose a candidate for his deputy, who is elected together with him. Members of national minorities referred to in paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 of this article propose only a candidate for representative, and the representative candidate who received the most votes after the elected representative becomes his deputy." (google translation of Croatian election law "Narodne Novine" https://narodne-novine.nn.hr/clanci/sluzbeni/2003_04_69_817.html) voters belong to the ethnic group or grouping but it is not clear (to me) that candidates also must belong to that group or grouping. I see that Croatian minority representation is single-winner mostly, same as NZ is single winner in each Maori district.
===== NZ does use levelling seats Croatian PR is at the district level for the mainstream districts but not any for the minority ethnic representation. Edmonton's old Southside guarantee system would work to ensure Indigenous members are elected. Even if they would not be elected solely by Indigenous voters. the overall number of members in the BC Legislature would fluctuate, though. must confess I did not read through the entire thesis, so perhaps missed something important... https://summit.sfu.ca/_flysystem/fedora/2023-03/etd22349.pdf
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