Nunavik residents to vote April 27 on new regional government

On April 27, the people of Nunavik will vote yes or not to a new form of regional government. Negotiators released the final draft agreement on the new government this past week. Officials representing Quebec, Canada and Nunavik will begin a tour Feb. 14 to explain the agreement to voters.

Nunavimmmiut will vote April 27, 2011 on the creation of the Nunavik Regional Government.

The final agreement, which spells out the proposed governance model for Nunavik, has been made public in time for a regional tour, which starts Feb. 14 in Kangiqsualujjuaq.

The tour gathers negotiators from all three levels of government, regional, provincial and federal, who will visit each of the 14 communities in Nunavik to explain the agreement at public meetings and answer questions.

That’s so Nunavimmiut have time to absorb the new model before the April referendum, when they will vote to either accept or reject the agreement.

The Nunavik Regional Government, or NRG, would amalgamate existing regional bodies like the Kativik Regional Government, the Kativik School Board, and the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services, putting them under the authority of a new elected body called the Nunavik Assembly.

The assembly would be made up of 20 members; a representative from each of the region’s 14 communities (elected locally), four executive council members and a leader (elected regionally) and one member from the Naskapi nation.

Executive council members would hold full-time jobs.

The agreement allots one vote per member, while members representing communities with a population over 2,000 get an additional vote.

Candidates who run for seats in the Nunavik Assembly must have resided in their electoral district for at least 36 months.

Candidates may not be a federal or provincial member of Parliament or assembly, an employee of the NRG nor can they be elected members of their municipal council, as is now possible under the current KRG structure.

Regional elections would be held every three years.

The NRG’s administrative departments would look after things like health and social services, education, local and regional affairs, central administration and finances.

A secretariat general would be responsible for administrative support to the executive council, legal affairs and government relations.

A budget and resource management policy secretariat would oversee budgets and expenditure control.

For the first three years of the NRG, advisory councils would be established on education, elders, health and social services and municipal affairs.

Finally, a transition committee would be established to help the process of amalgamating the KRG, KSB and NRBHSS under one roof.

After the amalgamation date, all financial transfers that those bodies previously received from the provincial and federal governments would be redirected to the NRG.

When Nunavimmiut go the polls in April, it will require more than 50 per cent in support to ratify the agreement.

The referendum question will ask this question: Do you approve the final agreement of the creation of the Nunavik Regional Government?


• Full version: Nunavik Government Final Agreement (English) PDF, 315 KB

• Full version: Nunavik Government Final Agreement (French) PDF, 328 KB

• Full version: Nunavik Regional Government Final Agreement (Inuktitut) PDF, 283 KB

• Summary: Nunavik Government Final Agreement (French) PDF, 106 KB


For summaries of the agreement in English and Inuktitut, scroll down to view the documents embedded below:

Summary of Nunavik Regional Government Final Agreement (English)

Summary of Nunavik Regional Government Final Agreement (Inuktitut)