Listen up NTI candidates! It’s criminal record time

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. says now is the time for NTI election candidates to apply to the RCMP for a criminal record check. Incumbent president Cathy Towtongie’s four-year term expires this year, so on Dec. 12, NTI will hold a vote to choose a president. The nomination period runs from Oct. 31 to Nov. 4 this year. (FILE PHOTO)

In what’s likely to become a regular pre-election ritual, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. is advising potential election candidates that now is the time to apply to the RCMP for a criminal record check.

The NTI president’s job, which incumbent Cathy Towtongie won in December 2012 with 19.6 per cent of ballots cast, falls vacant this year with the expiration of Towtongie’s term of office.

The nomination period for that vote opens Oct. 31 and closes Nov. 4. Election day is Dec. 12.

But because of the length of time it takes to process a criminal record check, NTI requires that candidates apply for a criminal record check 90 days prior to the start of the nomination period Oct. 31.

“Because it normally takes weeks to process a criminal records check, anyone considering running in the NTI election must start the process well in advance of the nomination period,” NTI said in a release.

The Nunavut RCMP, however, said in September 2014 that they are now able to do a criminal record check in a matter of days, not weeks.

That’s because they’ve installed a technology called Cardscan, which allows them to send electronic copies of fingerprints to their national fingerprint database in Ottawa for comparison.

NTI rules state that for the three-year period prior to voting day, any beneficiary convicted of an indictable offence, or whose jail sentence ended within that period, is not eligible to run for an NTI office.

In the past, NTI did not require criminal record checks — but they discovered that when candidates submitted their nomination papers, some lied about their criminal records.

So in October 2013, NTI amended its bylaw to require that candidates submit a completed criminal record check with their nomination papers.

Candidates can get the criminal record check process started at their local RCMP detachment.

To be eligible to run in this year’s NTI presidential election, you must be at least 16 years of age as of voting day and enrolled as a beneficiary under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.

People who owe amounts greater that $500 to either NTI or to a regional Inuit association are also ineligible to run as candidates.

In the election held Dec. 10, 2012, Towtongie won 1,344 votes — only 19.6 per cent of the total — to defeat 10 other candidates for NTI’s top job.

Only about 35 per cent of eligible beneficiaries cast ballots in that election.