Watch what you are not seeing and hearing in the federal election, as well as what you are. That’s the advice from a Political Studies professor at the University of Saskatchewan, who expects Indigenous issues won’t play as prominently in this election as they did in 2015.

Ken Coates explains that back in 2015 the then National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Perry Bellegarde, urged First Nations people to participate in the process and vote. He expects this time around, National Chief RoseAnne Archibald will not do the same, and he also doesn’t expect the politically parties to come out too strongly for or against Indigenous issues. Coates says it is sad because in 2015 the issues were quite prominent.

He notes that in Saskatchewan, there’s an awful lot riding on the way the federal government approaches Indigenous affairs.