What matters to Indigenous voters in Manitoba?

As Canadians get ready to head to the polls, everyone has an opinion about what the most important issues are.

For Indigenous voters, key issues include health care, climate change and poverty.

CBC News asked a number of people what they want to hear about this federal election while at a powwow in La Salle on Saturday, which was hosted by social services agency New Directions.

"I think we have to ask the hard questions and make sure that they get answered," said Darlene Daniels, who is the senior director of culture, education and training.

Voter turnout for those living on First Nations increased in the 2015 federal election to 61.5 per cent from 47.4 per cent in 2011, according to Statistics Canada.

• Liberals made big gains, but NDP still won the First Nations vote in 2015, data shows

Elizabeth Keeper

For Elizabeth Keeper, who is a dentist working in Kenora, she hopes the federal government can help provide opportunities for more Indigenous people to work in health care.

"I think it would have a phenomenal effect on our health care in each of the provinces," she said. "Especially here in Manitoba where we have a very large Indigenous community and our Indigenous people are sick at higher rates and they're dying at higher rates."

• An Indigenous guide to the 2019 federal election
• Scheer should break with Harper's approach to Indigenous peoples, says AFN national chief

She says the way to get there is through education, which is a federal responsibility for those who live on First Nations.

"We really need the strength from our community to come through and to be able to get through school and to be able to help and heal our own community," said Keeper.

Bill Greenwalt

Bill Greenwalt is the vice president of the Aboriginal Veterans Association of Manitoba and for him, the key issue is government support for veterans, particularly when it comes to mental health.

"They're dropping the ball with our elder veterans. I've seen some of the circumstances they've been under," he said. 

"The health care should be a lot better. We as veterans signed that little paper and we put our lives on the line. I put my life on the line for four years and at any given time I could've been killed."

Cyril Keeper

Cyril Keeper, who was an NDP member of parliament in the 1980s, says the key issue going into this election is climate change.

He said so far, none of the leaders have impressed him with their environmental plans.

"You kind of heard echoes of it in the distance, but I want to hear it louder. It's like the approach of a thunder storm. I want to hear the thunder roll and I want to see lightning. I want to see some action and we need that," Keeper said.

The other key issue he wants to see addressed is poverty and income equality for Indigenous Canadians. 

If people are going to fulfil their potential, then they have to have a good base and income is critical," Keeper said. 

What are the parties offering?

Only the NDP and the Green Party of Canada have released their platforms, but both parties pledged to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

The Greens promised to implement the calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the calls for justice of the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

The party pledges to consult with Indigenous people to determine when to repeal the Indian Act. It also promises to resolve boil water advisories in First Nations communities and remove the two per cent funding cap on Indigenous post-secondary education.

The NDP pledges include lifting all drinking water advisories by 2021, improving access to mental health and addiction treatment services — including "an evidence-based action plan to prevent suicide backed by dedicated federal resources," and building a treatment centre for residents of Grassy Narrows affected by long-term mercury exposure and compensating families affected by mercury poisoning.