Forget the $100 — How does NTI get past voter apathy?

There is no shortage of people who want to run Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., but there is certainly a shortage of voters who share the same interest in its elections.

Ten candidates have put their name in the ring ahead of the May 27 byelection to replace former president Jeremy Tunraluk, who resigned in January. (He’s also running for re-election.)

The contest attracts a dismal voter turnout. Before the organization’s $100 voting voucher, introduced in 2024, less than 20 per cent of NTI’s approximately 2,200 beneficiaries have historically cast ballots. The voucher brought turnout up to 67 per cent.

The organization does important work and manages a lot of money. With the creation of Nunavut, Inuit became the inheritors of their land through NTI, which makes sure promises made under the Nunavut Agreement are kept.

NTI and regional Inuit organizations rake in millions from mines operating on Inuit Owned Land. The Nunavut Trust, which generates income for beneficiaries and helps fund NTI, was worth $2 billion as of last year.

One of the most significant outstanding pieces of the Nunavut Agreement is a Nunavut Land Use Plan, which would guide development in the territory by evaluating areas of mineral potential against environmental concerns. The latest draft is sitting unsigned almost three years after it was submitted for approval, in 2023.

NTI leadership has also added a focus on federal and territorial partnerships over the past few years by establishing committees to keep Inuit at the table while decisions are being made.

Beneficiaries should certainly hold their leaders to account for this work. But it’s a lofty goal, considering the challenges Inuit in Nunavut face.

“By all social indicators, life in Nunavut is getting worse,” says NTI’s most recent strategic priority document, released in February 2025. The eight-point priority list touches on all the greatest hits: there continues to be a dire need for housing, infrastructure, language preservation, access to food, better education and work opportunities.

Without these needs met, it’s hard to expect the average beneficiary to have the time to engage in NTI’s affairs.

There are other challenges as well, caused by the bureaucracy of NTI. Nunatsiaq News canvassed former politicians who played a role in hammering out the Nunavut Agreement to ask them, ahead of the 2024 NTI presidential election, about voter apathy.

Apathy stems from millions of dollars going into NTI with nothing to show for it, said Peter Ittinuar, Canada’s first Inuk MP.  Similarly, former senator Dennis Patterson and former MLA Tagaq Curley both called out a lack of transparency, which might explain why a perennial promise among candidates running to lead NTI centres around openness and dialogue.

This round of candidates is bringing a new set of ideas and goals for Nunavut and NTI. You can read them all here.

If you’re reading this editorial, you likely keep up with the news and you’re probably already familiar with who is running in next week’s byelection. You still have time to talk to your neighbours, your friends, your colleagues. Encourage them to read about the candidates and cast a ballot.

And once the race is over, the real work begins.

I encourage all beneficiaries to remember the winning candidate’s promises and hold them to account.

Because if NTI can break out of its bureaucratic enclave and make life better for Nunavummiut, then maybe it won’t take the promise of $100 to get voters engaged enough to cast a ballot in future elections.