Nunavut officials to start lands referendum tour this month
“What we’ll be doing when we go out is to ensure everyone is well informed”
A new home under construction in 2011, in Iqaluit’s Plateau subdivision. Later this month, Government of Nunavut officials will start a Nunavut-wide community tour and launch an information campaign for the May 9 referendum on municipal land sales. (FILE PHOTO)
Government of Nunavut officials plan to launch a territory-wide community tour later this month to explain the May 9, 2016 municipal land sales referendum.
That tour comes after criticism that they’ve provided little or no public information about what’s at stake in this vote.
“What we’ll be doing when we go out is to ensure everyone is well informed on the consequences of a Yes or No vote,” said the acting assistant deputy minister of Community Government Services, Ralph Ruediger.
“CGS is currently preparing posters and brochures, and traveling to each community to either conduct meetings with councils or public meetings as part of out public awareness campaign,” Ruediger said.
Some municipal officials said they’re concerned about how the referendum will work
“It’s a big concern for us,” Rankin Inlet mayor Robert Janes told Nunatsiaq News Jan. 4.
“I don’t know what’s going on with it. CGS hasn’t come and told us anything yet. We haven’t even got any correspondence from anyone saying that the thing [plebiscite] is going to happen.”
According to a draft schedule, the tour starts Jan. 27 in Kugluktuk and wraps up March 29 in Sanikiluaq.
On May 9, municipal voters in every community will vote Yes or No to a question asking whether they want their hamlet or city government to be allowed to sell municipal lots.
The GN released the text of the question Dec. 29. This reads as follows:
“Do you want the municipality of [city or hamlet name] to be able to sell municipal lands?”
During the community tour, GN staff from the CGS department will make presentations and answer questions at public meetings.
CGS officials also say they plan to meet municipal councils.
A Facebook page and website on the referendum is expected to go live to the public around Jan. 18.
But details on what’s in the information campaign have yet to be released.
Members of the Nunavut legislature will hear a presentation on the referendum Jan. 23 ahead of the assembly’s winter sitting, which starts Feb. 24.
The GN announced the referendum date this past Nov. 5, but provided little information with that announcement.
During the last legislative session, Iqaluit-Tasiluk MLA George Hickes, then a regular MLA, said his constituents have received little information about the vote.
Elections in Nunavut’s hamlets for new municipal governments took place in December — unlike Iqaluit, which held its municipal elections in October.
That means new hamlet mayors and councillors are only now being sworn in to their new terms of office.
However, all of the territory’s new councillors and mayors will be sworn-in before GN officials embark on the community tour.
A Yes vote for fee simple land ownership would give a municipal council permission to sell lands, but they are not required to sell lands, says a frequently asked questions document from the GN.
That means municipal councils could still choose not to sell lands, or could decide to lease some lands and sell others.
But if a municipality has already entered into agreements with equity leaseholders stating their lots would be sold to them after a Yes vote — those arrangements will be honoured, the GN’s FAQ document says.
Lot prices would be set according to municipal and zoning by-laws, as well as the GN’s land policies.
Market value for land would be determined by “a professionally qualified land appraiser or by public bids,” the GN FAQ document said.
CGS officials are also currently checking with the Department of Justice land titles office to get information on transfer fees for leaseholders who have mortgages registered at the land titles office.
In each community, a 50 per cent plus one majority will decide the issue, the GN said.
The vote is open to all eligible voters, 18 years of age or older.
It is not necessary to be a leaseholder with the municipality to be eligible to vote. Anyone eligible to vote in a municipal election is eligible to vote in the lands referendum.
The GN says municipalities should watch out for notifications from their municipalities for advance polling to be held before May 9.
Copies of the GN land referendum FAQ and the draft schedule for community visits are embedded below.
Frequently Asked Questions: Nunavut Land Referendum by NunatsiaqNews
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