Voters approve Nunavik’s offshore agreement

Seventy-eight per cent of Nunavimmiut said yes to an agreement that settles Nunavik’s offshore claim, with 81 per cent of eligible voters casting ballots during the week-long ratification vote, which was held Oct. 16 to 20.

A majority of eligible votes had to vote yes for the long-awaited offshore deal, called the Nunavik Inuit Land Claims Agreement, to be deemed ratified by Inuit.

The highest turnout was in Inukjuak, where 744 out of 794 eligible voters turned out, or 94 per cent. Of these, only 18, or two per cent, voted against the deal.

The largest percentage of votes opposing the agreement came from Puvirnituq, where five per cent, or 39 of 544 voters said no. Another 25 per cent did not turn out.

In Kuujjuaq, 75 per cent of the eligible voters came out to vote. Of these, 699 voted to ratify the deal and only two percent, or 17, voted against ratification.

In Salluit, where 555 of 660 voters cast ballots, and eight in 10 voted to accept the deal, one eligible voter told Nunatsiaq News that many people in this community didn’t know exactly what they were voting for, despite an intensive information campaign from Makivik Corporation.

But he said eligible voters were encouraged to turn out by incentives such as a draw for free tickets on airlines owned by Makivik.

The federal government must now ratify the treaty by signing it and adopting legislation to bring it into force.

The NILCA gives Nunavimmiut ownership of 80 per cent of the islands in the Nunavik Marine Region, including full subsurface rights, about $85 million in capital transfer and implementation funding and new management regimes for wildlife, lands and resource development.

It also contains overlap agreements with the Inuit of Labrador, the Inuit of Nunavut and the Crees of Eeyou Istchee.

For more details on the results of the vote, consult the NILCA web site: www.nilca.ca.