A commission struck just prior to last spring’s Nova Scotia election is set to begin its public consultations on effective electoral representation for Acadians and African Nova Scotians.
The independent Commission on Effective Electoral Representation of Acadian and African Nova Scotians will hold its first public session at Shelburne’s Black Loyalist Heritage Centre on Monday.
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Thirteen sessions will be held across the province over the next four weeks, with the commission expected to file its report to the government by Nov. 1.
The commission is chaired by Doug Keefe, an independent consultant and former deputy minister of justice, and also includes the co-president of the Health Association of African Canadians, Sharon Davis-Murdoch, and Kenneth Deveau, a vice-president at Universite Sainte-Anne.
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The report’s recommendations are to inform the next Electoral Boundaries Commission, which is expected to be established by the province early in the new year.
The commission’s work comes after a Nova Scotia Court of Appeal ruling released in January found a 2012 boundary redrawing that eliminated three Acadian ridings violated the voter rights section of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.