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Nunavik ratification vote: how it works

NUNATSIAQ NEWS

From Oct. 16 to 20 next week, Nunavimmiut will answer the following question when they cast ballots in the ratification vote for their offshore agreement:

“Do you approve the Nunavik Inuit Land Claims Agreement and authorize Makivik to sign this agreement?”

The deal will be ratified if 50 per cent plus one of all eligible voters say “Yes.”

This means that more than half of the eligible voters – about 5,900 – must cast ballots for the NILCA to be ratified. If the turn-out for the ratification vote is low, and few votes are cast, those who do not vote will have the same effect as those who vote “no,” the Makivik Corp. says.

So Adamie Padlayat, Makivik’s chief electoral officer, said he’s hoping for an even higher turnout ratification than the 50 per cent turnout produced by last April’s Makivik election.

Makivik officials have been travelling throughout Nunavik communities to inform beneficiaries about the offshore deal. Every Nunavik household received copies of a 260-page NILCA document with the agreement’s complete text.

And last month, Makivik executive Johnny Peters toured all communities in Nunavik with lawyers in tow to explain more about the NILCA. Up-to-date information is now available on the trilingual NILCA web site at http://www.nilca.ca.

Eligible voters are must be 18 years and older on Oct. 20, beneficiaries of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, live in Nunavik or have lived outside Nunavik for less than 10 years.

Beneficiaries who have lived outside Nunavik for more than 10 consecutive years, but are working for an Inuit organization or cannot return to their communities due to health reasons will be eligible to vote, but Makivik says they must call their landholding Corporations to have their eligibility confirmed.

Those beneficiaries who have lived outside Nunavik for more than consecutive 10 years, who do not work for an Inuit organization and who have had their voting rights suspended, must call their local enrollment committee to regain their eligibility to vote.

Voting on the NICLA takes place Oct. 16 to 20, with polls in Nunavik communities and Chisasibi. Polls are open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and to 8 p.m. in Montreal and Ottawa.

In Montreal, a poll will be set up at the Makivik office in Ville-St-Laurent, and a traveling poll will visit other locations in the city. In Ottawa, polls will be open at the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and Pauktuutit offices.

As of last Friday, there were 5,968 eligible voters registered. Many Nunavimmiut not living near Montreal or Ottawa also requested send-in ballots, said Padlayat, while prisoners in detention centres have also received information and ballots.

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