Susanna Braund hasn’t had a vote in 14 years.
“I consider myself a community minded person, and I pay property taxes, and I feel a sense of frustration not only because I didn’t get to vote in this election, but also because I couldn’t run,” says Braund.
Braund says that regardless of her inability to vote, she did get involved in the municipal election.
“The community gives a lot back to me,” she says. “So during this election, I hosted one meeting for a candidate and offered to host another - but it fell through. Also, I gave money to a campaign.”
Braund says that she would like to be a Canadian citizen, even if that meant giving up her other citizenship (English), and she’s working on the process as fast as she can.
“I became a permanent resident at the earliest possible opportunity, two and half years ago,” she says. “The earliest I can even apply for citizenship is some time next year.”
Here on Bowen, Braund is not alone in her frustration with her voting status. There are many engaged citizens who did not get a chance to go to the ballot box on Saturday, even if they wanted to.
Euan and Alex Sinclair are in the same boat.
“We’ve been in Canada for four years now, and we might be eligible to apply for citizenship in August of 2015, but there is a piece of legislation that will likely go into effect in July - and if it does, our eligibility will be pushed back,” says Euan Sinclair. He adds that once they do apply, actually achieving citizenship could be a long road. “It’s like a piece of string, it could go on and on.
He adds that until coming to Canada, he hadn’t missed the opportunity to vote once since he turned 18.
“We feel very disenfrachised. We’re paying taxes, why can’t we have a voice? Maybe if we were living somewhere else it wouldn’t feel as bad but here on Bowen it is different. Every vote really does count.”
Both Sinclair and Braund point to the fact that the rules for voting are different in the UK: you simply have to be a resident.
“Even in the recent Scottish referendum, residents had the power to vote,” says Sinclair.
For Dionne Finch, the desire to vote is not quite enough of a motivation to get on the path to citizenship.
“I’ve lived in Canada 16 years but I still feel British,” she says. “And I might go live there again one day. But I’ve lived on Bowen for three years, and I feel like this is home. I feel like a British Bowen Islander.”
She says that her kids are Canadian citizens, and that during this election particularly, she would have liked to have cast a vote for Stacy Beamer.
“I saw him as a candidate who would get things done, and who understood the recreational needs of my kids - particularly the older ones.”
She says that despite her inability to vote, she still watched the question and answer sessions when they were posted online and kept up to date on the daily flow of information.
“I can accept not being able to vote, but I would really like it if everyone who could, actually did so.”
Coming from Australia, Damien Bryan says that he feels at home in a place with such a spectacular record of voter turn-out.
He adds that while he is married to a Canadian and has Canadian children, he does not yet have his citizenship.
“When I came here in 2006 I was surprised to find out I couldn’t vote by virtue of living here,” he says. “But I’m not upset about it, those are just the rules. And it takes time to become a citizen. Hopefully, by the next election I will be Canadian, and have the opportunity to cast a ballot.”
