Independent Native Voice - The Election

The Election

Independent Native Voice's leader was Nelson Contois, who contested Manitoba's Swan River constituency. The other candidates were Nelson's daughter Carey Contois in Dauphin, and Darryl Sutherland in Interlake.

Independent Native Voice was one of two unregistered parties to focus on aboriginal issues in the 1995 campaign. The other was the First Peoples Party (FPP) led by Jerry Fontaine, the nephew of future Canadian Assembly of First Nations leader Phil Fontaine. The FPP had no formal association with Independent Native Voice, and was not implicated in the post-election controversy. Nelson and Carey Contois nevertheless affiliated with the FPP in mid-campaign, and ran with endorsements from both parties. Sutherland did not join the FPP, and was not in regular contact with the Contoises after declaring his candidacy. According to later reports, Sutherland told Jerry Fontaine during the campaign that Progressive Conservative organizers had promised him at least $3,000 to declare his candidacy. Fontaine encouraged Sutherland to take his story to the media, though Sutherland did not do so at the time.

On April 22, 1995, the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper quoted Progressive Conservative organizer Allan Aitken as saying that he had assisted Sutherland and the Contoises in setting up their campaigns. He said he only wanted to ensure "everyone ha an equal shot at running", and denied suggestions that his actions contravened provincial law. Bill Uruski, a former NDP Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), was quoted in the same article as speculating that Aitken's assistance was a ploy "to undermine NDP support in the native communities". Two days later, Sutherland told the Interlake Spectator that he had accepted help from Progressive Conservative organizers early in the campaign, but later distanced himself from these figures. He said that his candidacy was legitimate. The controversy attracted relatively little attention during the campaign.

Independent Native Voice fared poorly as a party, receiving a total of 518 votes. Nelson Contois received 118 votes (1.36%), Carey Contois received 111 (1.15%) and Sutherland received 289 (3.90%). The NDP won all three constituencies, although the Progressive Conservatives came within thirty-six votes of winning Swan River. Provincially, the Progressive Conservatives under Gary Filmon were re-elected with their second consecutive majority government. The NDP registered a complaint with Elections Manitoba concerning the Native Voice candidacies, but no charges were laid.