Committee recommends trial of Inuit languages on Nunavut federal ballots

Nunavummiut could soon be voting with a candidate's Inuktitut or Inuinnaqtun names on their federal ballots.

In September, the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada proposed a pilot project to include Inuit languages on voting in the Nunavut riding. 

The Procedure and House Affairs Committee (PROC) agreed, and earlier this month, recommended the trial project to proceed. 

"The committee is of the opinion that this proposal may allow a greater number of electors in Nunavut to exercise their constitutional right to vote, while offering sufficient guarantees to preserve the integrity of the vote," PROC chair Ben Carr wrote in the report. 

The PROC also reiterated a recommendation from a previous report for Elections Canada to post sample ballots in Indigenous languages at polling booths to serve as a guide.

That was trialled in Nunavut in the last federal election. 

In 2022, Nunavut NDP MP Lori Idlout tabled a private member's bill calling for Indigenous languages to be included on election ballots across the country.

In a written statement, Idlout said the committee's decision is well overdue after decades of neglecting the mother tongue of most Nunavummiut. 

"As first peoples in the Arctic, it was unacceptable that Inuit were neglected and that both Conservative and Liberal governments didn't seem to care to act," she said. 

"We need to make sure that all First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples be able to vote and have an accessible ballot."

Under this current proposal, the changes to the Canada Elections Act would include:

• Allowing candidates to have their name on the ballot written in Inuktitut and/or Inuinnaqtun

• Allowing registered parties to add an Inuktitut and/or Inuinnaqtun party name, alongside their current name in English and/or French

• Adding the Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun translations to the word "independent"

Boosting Nunavut's low voter turnout

In the 2021 general elections, Nunavut had the lowest voter turnout in the country at 29.4 per cent, according to Elections Canada. That's the lowest rate for the territory since 2004. 

Paul Irngaut, vice-president of Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI), said he's also pushed for Inuktut to be on federal and territorial voting papers, which he believes could help boost voter turnout. 

"It shows the rest of Canada that the predominant language spoken in Nunavut is Inuktitut or Inuinnaqtun," he said. 

As with any pilot program, he acknowledges there will be some challenges, such as for ballot counters who aren't familiar with Inuktut.

"That will take time … but we still encourage it to happen in Nunavut. This would really help Inuit know who their candidates are and who is running in their own language," he said. 

Inuktut is spoken in several Inuit regions in Canada. In a statement to CBC, Elections Canada said there are several factors that make Nunavut best suited for a pilot. 

"That includes the facts that Inuktut has an official status in Nunavut, that a majority of the population speaks Inuktut languages, and that the territory is represented by just one federal electoral district." 

The proposal will now go to the Senate for final approval, before it can be implemented at the next federal election.