voting rights by: Raquel

We all know about voting. In fact, just recently we had an election! As you now know, Rachel Notley is now prime minister of Alberta, and if we were talking federally, then our premier is Steven Harper. We elected them both through voting. We live in a democratic society, where everyone has the right to vote (everyone the age of 18 and over, who has lived in Alberta for more than six months prior to the election, and federally, you have 18, and you have to be a Canadian citizen). It wasn't always that way though. Women were fighting the right to vote for a long time, and in 1917, their wish was finally granted. Women got the right to vote federally! They kept pursuing what they thought was right, and they finally got it! However, some people still didn't have the right to vote! Who were they? Well, the Asian-Canadians couldn't vote until 1948! That's 31 years later! Then there was the Inuit, who couldn't vote until 1950, two years after the Asian-Canadians. Ten years later (1960), first nations people living on the reserves gained the triumph of the ability to vote. Then the age for voting was lowered from 21 to 18. Fresh new faces eager to vote! Voting is an important thing that holds up our democracy, and I'm glad everyone (under the regulations) is now allowed to vote.