Event Date: October 19, 2016 - 8:30am to 1:00pm
Location: Alex Trebek Alumni Hall, 115 Séraphin-Marion Private, Ottawa

Presented by CIPS and the Public Law Group of the Faculty of Common Law at the University of Ottawa

An increasing number of countries today offer external voting to their citizens, military, diplomats, students and residents living abroad. Out of Country Voting (OCV) takes a number of forms, including online (Switzerland), at embassies and consulates (Ukraine, Croatia, Tunisia), mail-in ballots (Canada and the US), and proxy voting (the UK). Defenders of these practices argue inclusion of non-resident and diaspora voters contributes to promoting the individual franchise and enhances democratic participation. Critics argue that non-resident voting decreases the legitimacy of elections and misunderstands the territorial links between electors and their representatives. Globalization and mass migration are likely to make debates about non-resident voting even more salient.

In February 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear an appeal in the case of Frank v. Canada, which is a constitutional challenge to the rule in the Canada Elections Act banning Canadian citizens living abroad from voting in federal elections if they have been non-residents for 5 or more years. This case has significant implications for the right to vote protected in s. 3 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and for democratic participation by Canadian citizens.

Join CIPS and the Public Law Group of the Faculty of Common Law at the University of Ottawa for a day-long workshop investigating these issues. Speakers will include one of the plaintiffs, Gillian Frank, his lawyer Shaun O’Brian, academic experts Michael Pal, Patti Lenard, and Jamie Liew and Jeremy Grace and more to discuss the Frank case and the state of OCV in Canada and abroad.

This event is free and open to the public. A light lunch will be served.