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Kailey Doiron

Caleb MacIssac

English 10-05

April 12, 2021

In the Canadian Democracy System, voters’ rights are evidently invidious. The
democratic voting system has been defined as a rule by the people (Mintz et al.), but everyone
who should be in it, aren’t. In Canada, people above the age of 18 are given the right to vote with
identification like a drivers license, with an address on it. Some have been denied the right to
vote even if they have lived in Canada for decades or have been paying taxes to the Canadian
government. Voting rights have changed from when only white men with property could vote.
When it comes to voting, there is thankfully no longer any discrimination based on gender or
race.

The required voting age in Canada is 18 but not every person that is the age of 18 is
mature enough to have the responsibility of voting. Many arguments have been made towards the
age of voting and they can be discussed while checking out voting rights. If a person is well
informed about the pros and cons of voting they should have the right to vote. A system that
could help this situation could be to make people take a test on political expectations and see if
their rights should be expanded. With the legal voting age, our new legal adults should be
responsible enough to do their proper research for elections. Since they would be joining the
workforce soon, they would be very likely to be affected by the election’s results.

Canada is a multicultural country but they have strict citizenship rules. The Canadian
democratic system seems to be quite hesitant with allowing immigrants to join Canada as a
Canadian citizen. For those who are wanting a Canadian citizenship, should have good intentions
because this is an important issue in which the restrictions should be discussed. Canadian
prisoners are granted the right to vote, although they are inactive members of the community and
they have shown their disrespect of following the law. It’s hard to agree with the democracy
system because many of the active members of Canada are excluded from democracy, while
inactive members of Canada are included.

With exclusion in the Canadian politics it’s debatable whether Canada is a multicultural
country. Canada does encourage immigration for economic reasons but there is failure with
simplifying the lives of immigrants. It’s difficult to become a Canadian citizen, but this nation
has some trouble with allowing foreigners to work in Canada. There are honest issues with being
granted a Canadian citizenship such as not having to provide a Canadian passport. Canada claims
to have a strong cultural inclusion but still take advantage of those who are seeking to live a
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better life in Canada. Arguing for the rights of immigrants would enhance this nation’s diversity
and strengthen the country’s unity (Mintz et al.)

There are clearly issues with the democratic system but there can always be solutions to
improve those that are neglected. It is an essential problem to improve the Canadian democratic
system, as the election is to choose someone to run our country. Those who are discriminated
against should be given the ability to vote, and also those who are maturely capable to make
good decisions. Immigrants should be given more rights with politics, this would help them
prove their Canadian loyalty.

Works Cited

Bourgeois, Michael. “Voting in Canada: A Short History” Legal Information Society of Nova
Scotia, September 2015, www.legalinfo.org/legal-information-topics/voting-history

Callister, Adam Henry, et al. “Immigration, Deportation, and Discrimination: Hispanic Political
Opinion Since the Election of Donald Trump” Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences,
vol. 41, April 25, 2019, pp. 166–184,
www.jounals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0739986319840717

Justwan, Florian. “Disenfranchised Minorities: Trust, Definitions of Citizenship, and Noncitizen

Voting Rights in Developed Democracies” International Political Science Review, vol. 36,
April 25, 2014, pp. 373–392, www.journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0192512113513200

Mintz, Eric, et al. Politics, Power and the Common Good: An Introduction to Political Science.
Pearson, 2019.

“Voting by Incarcerated Electors.” Elections Canada, June 2019,

www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=bkg&document=ec90545&lang=e.