As part of our coverage of the 2015 Federal Election, we are asking Indigenous people in this province to tell us "Why I Vote." These are the unedited words from our interviewees. You can find more in our Interviews section.

Merelda Fiddler, mother and journalist

Did you vote in the last federal election?

I did vote in the last federal election, and the provincial one and the city elections.

Will you be voting in this election?

I will most definitely be voting in the upcoming election.

What is the most important issue to you this election?

There's not just one issue for me. For instance, as a person who can see climate change it's the environment. As a mother it's health care and education. Addressing poverty is also very big for me. And then of course there's justice. All of these things and many more matter.

Why is it important for Indigenous people to vote?

Here are the two things I always think of when i think about voting. 1. Veterans. My own relatives who fought in the war and ALL veterans. They fought for the rights we often take for granted. They fought so we can have the right to have a say in our country's future. It's not a perfect place but we don't realize how lucky we are.

Second - when I was working on a documentary years ago a Metis man said to me - "people tell me all the time they are not political. I don't understand that everything in your life is political."

That goes back to the previous question - if we were all more engaged in our education, health etc maybe we could really make the difference we all keep looking to others to do for us.

Related:

• Why I Vote: Wab Kinew
• Why I Vote: Jennifer Dawn Bishop
• Why I Vote: Vernon Linklater
• Why I Vote: Rochelle DeBray
• Why I Vote: Danny Knight

Click here for more Election coverage