Cape Breton MP loses lawsuit to stop electoral boundary changes

Sydney and Victorian Liberal MP Jaime Battiste has lost a bid to retain his old riding boundaries.

Last year, the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission proposed redrawing the constituency to exclude Eskasoni and Wagmatcook First Nations and renaming it Sydney Glace Bay.

The rest of Cape Breton Island was already annexed to parts of Guysborough Parish as part of the Cape Breton-Canso route, but with the addition of Antigonish Parish it will be renamed Cape Breton-Canso-Antigonish.

Battiste posted a letter on his Facebook page on Friday afternoon saying his legal challenge over the proposed Sydney-Victoria boundary change had failed.

The new Sydney Glace Bay constituency will have approximately 10,000 more people than the existing constituency, for a total population of just over 82,000.

The two-term MP, first elected in 2019, has a law degree from Dalhousie University, lives on reserve in Eskasoni and was a treaty adviser to the Mi’kmaw First Nation.

In his lawsuit, Battiste said boundary changes that would eliminate Eskasoni’s ability to race are unconstitutional and contrary to treaty rights and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

On Friday, Battiste said he intends to run as the Liberals in the new Sydney-Glace Bay constituency, which he said still contains about three-quarters of the voters from the existing constituency.

Liberal MP Mike Calloway currently represents Cape Breton-Canso and is expected to contest the new Cape Breton-Canso-Antigonish riding.

Boundary changes across Canada are expected to come into effect by the next general election.

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