If a federal election is called any time soon, expect Vancouver lawyer Jim Quail to be making his way to the B.C. Supreme Court.

“We’ll be applying to the court for an order ordering the chief electoral officer, which is basically Elections Canada, ordering them not to use the new rules,” Quail told the Georgia Straight.

Quail, executive director of the British Columbia Public Interest Advocacy Centre, is referring to the new federal voting–identification rules introduced by the Conservative government. They were supported by the Liberals and the Bloc Québécois but opposed by the NDP. He said that these rules are too restrictive, will disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters nationwide, and essentially trash the charter-guaranteed right of Canadians to vote in federal and provincial elections.

Under new rules contained in an amendment to the Canada Elections Act that came into effect last summer, it is no longer sufficient to bring a voter-identification card—the document mailed to voters by Elections Canada before balloting—to the polling station.

Now, a voter must bring a government-issued photo ID containing the voter’s name and address. For B.C. voters, this means either a driver’s licence or a B.C. ID card.

In the absence of such photo ID, a voter must provide two pieces of identification from a list authorized by Elections Canada.

The third option is for a person to be vouched for by a voter who is in the same polling division and who has acceptable pieces of identification.

Quail said the rules discriminate against the homeless, First Nations people, tenants, seniors, students, and people with disabilities.

The B.C. Public Interest Advocacy Centre is representing two individuals and four community organizations that filed a charter challenge against the new rules before the B.C. Supreme Court on November 1, 2007. Rose Henry, a mother of one, is one of these two individuals. Based in Victoria, the 50-year-old Sliammon First Nation woman is also an advocate for homeless people.

In a phone interview, Henry told the Straight that the homeless are most likely to have no ID documents. But, she argued, not having a home doesn’t take away a Canadian’s right to vote. Henry asserted that federal elections are just as important to the homeless as to those in better-off conditions. “That’s the only time they actually get to have a say on who’s going to govern,” she said. “The fact that we don’t own a home is irrelevant to voting.”

She added that it’s no surprise that the Conservatives pushed for these new voting ID rules. “Our current government doesn’t treat First Nations people very well, and they treat homeless people just as bad,” Henry said.

One of the groups challenging the rules is the Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre. TRAC executive director Martha Lewis explained to the Straight that many tenants move around and do not own ID bearing a current address. Tenants living in apartments may not know another voter in their polling division who can vouch for them, Lewis said.

Quail also said that it is “absurd” to deny First Nations voters the right to cast their ballot if they are only able to produce their certificate of Indian status cards. “A First Nations status card isn’t good enough because it doesn’t have your address,” he said. “So you’re talking about somebody who has a card showing that their ancestors have lived here thousands and thousands of years. It’s sort of obvious that they should be allowed to vote.”

Native people were granted the right to vote federally in 1960.

A paper prepared by Quail cited estimates by former chief electoral officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley that five percent of voters will encounter problems with the new rules. This is equivalent to 700,000 Canadians who may be unable to cast their ballots.

Quail expects the case to go to B.C. Supreme Court in the fall.