Quebec Voting Eligibility

"The [revision officer] basically said it was a question of what she believes, because at one point she said 'I don't believe you're domiciled',."
"She the revision officer] pointed and said 'all your documents are from Ontario, we can't take that'. I had one document from Ontario. And then at another point she said, 'You have to renounce all your ties to Ontario to vote here' ... I answered that I was born in Ontario and can't change that."
"I asked her 'If I bring a Quebec health card tomorrow, would I be able to register?' She said 'I can't guarantee that, because I don't believe you're domiciled'."
Kokulan Mahendiran, Quebec resident

"The domicile is ... the place with which a person's important actions or 'states' of civic life are associated."
Quebec chief electoral officer Jacques Drouin

Handout   Kokulan Mahendiran, who has lived in Quebec since 2009, was told “I don’t believe you’re domiciled” by a polling official.

 

McGill University student Kokulan Mahendiran went to his Westmount-Saint-Louis polling station on Monday. He had with him his Quebec driver's licence, Quebec bank statements and official mail sent through Canada Post to his Montreal address. Among the pieces of mail was a letter from Governor-General David Johnston, awarding Kokulan the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. He also had direct correspondence with his MNA and MP as identification.

"Kokulan has made many noteworthy contributions to our community where he has shown his leadership, passion and reliability", read the April Diamond Jubilee award recommendation letter, written by Westmount-Ville-Marie MP Marc Garneau. He also had his birth certificate with him, but had forgotten, among the raft of other official documents, to bring along his Quebec health card.

Handout   Kokulan Mahendiran with Quebec Liberal MP Marc Garneau at a February 2013 event. Mahendiran “has shown his leadership, passion and reliability,” Garneau wrote in an April recommendation letter.

 

His initial attempt to register for the April 7 election at which he planned to vote, like the responsible citizen that he is, failed. He was turned away, given a Quebec voter's manual with "domicile" and "Canadian citizen" underlined for his edification. The revision officer had evidently doubted Mr. Mahendiran's Canadian citizenship, despite the presence of his birth certificate.

He is a student at McGill University. He was not born in Quebec. Nor was he raised in the province. Students studying at Quebec universities, having residence in Quebec as a result, and paying taxes, having bank accounts, conducting all their official affairs in the province nonetheless are viewed by the governing Parti Quebecois and evidently the election commission with suspicion, that they have no 'right' to vote in Quebec, though under similar circumstances they can legally vote in every other province.

An 'information page' released by Elections Quebec qualifies would-be voters must prove to elections staff their "intention" to remain in Quebec, to consider the province their permanent home, before they may be permitted to vote. Although there are no standards to determine domicile, elections officials are given "the power to inquire and obtain any information it considers relevant", in the gauging of eligibility.

Officials can deny eligibility on such vague factors as a person's "actions", or "behaviours".

It is true beyond a shadow of a doubt that Quebec is truly exceptional.