Things you should know before collecting petition signatures
-The people who sign the petition do not all need to be in the same Member of Parliament’s (MP’s) riding. However, MPs will generally be most interested in presenting a petition if the people who ask them to present the petition and many of the people who sign are from their riding.
-If you are a refugee or permanent resident, but not a Canadian citizen, you are still welcome to sign a petition. The rule is that “a petition should contain signatures of residents of Canada only.”
-If you are under voting age (18 years) you are still welcome to sign a petition.
-Before collecting petition signatures, it is important to print or photocopy as many pages of the petition as you might need – you cannot collect additional signatures using blank sheets of paper that are then stapled to the petition. It is acceptable, though not ideal, for people to add their signatures and addresses on the back of a petition.
-For a signature to be valid, people must provide certain personal information. The only optional field on the petition is ‘email address.’ As indicated on the petition, we have added this optional field in order to give people the choice of receiving email updates from the Darfur/Sudan Peace Network (DSPN) about once every 4 to 8 weeks. If a person does not include their email address, we will not contact them or record any of their personal information.
