Indian Time - A Voice from the Eastern Door

The 2019 Canadian federal election was held on Monday, October 21, 2019, to elect members of the House of Commons to the 43rd Canadian Parliament. The Conservative Party under Andrew Scheer, the New Democratic Party under Jagmeet Singh, the Green Party under Elizabeth May, and the People's Party under Maxime Bernier challenged the incumbent Liberal government under Justin Trudeau.

The result of the 40-day campaign saw the incumbent Liberals lose the majority they won in the 2015 election, but they maintained a plurality of seats; according to CBC. On Tuesday, October 22 the preliminary results indicated that the Liberals had won enough seats to form a minority government but lost the popular vote to the Conservatives.

Marc Miller was also reelected. Miller represents the riding of Ville-Marie-Le Sud-Ouest-Île-des-Sœurs in the House of Commons of Canada and in January 26, 2017 he was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities.

Miller, who is not Indigenous, was the first person to speak an Indigenous language in the House of Commons in 2017. Miller told parliamentarians learning the Mohawk language has helped him to "understand my place on earth."

In 2018, the Canadian politician personally visited the last living Mohawk code talker Levi Oakes to present him with a medal to honor his service as a code talker. Miller also read Oakes a letter of thanks in the Mohawk language.

Across Canada ten indigenous candidates were elected into the House of Commons on Monday. In 2015 a record of eleven Indigenous ministers of parliament were elected. Of the ten elected, four were incumbents; Yvonne Jones (Inuk) in Labrador, Michael McLeod (Métis) in Northwest Territories, Dan Vandal (Métis) in Saint Boniface-Saint Vital, and Marc Serré Mattawa/North Bay Algonquin First Nation, were all re-elected.

In Vancouver, former Liberal justice minister and Attorney General of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould ran as an Independent and was reelected to her Vancouver-Granville seat.

In Winnipeg, Manitoba, NDP candidate Leah Gazan won, Gazan is from the Wood Mountain Lakota Nation.

25-year old Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, Nunavut, defeated former Conservative MP Leona Aglukkaq and Liberal candidate Megan Pizzo Lyall.

Vance Badawey (Métis) in Niagara Centre, Ontario was re-elected and Marc Dalton, also Métis, was the sole Indigenous candidate for the Conservatives to win his seat.

Jaime Battiste, Eskasoni First Nation is the first-ever Mi'kmaq MP. Battiste, a Liberal, won the close race in the Sydney-Victoria, Nova Scotia.