French-only election materials draw criticism from Inuit rights group

An Inuit cultural organization in Nunavik is criticizing Quebec’s decision to conduct its Oct. 5 provincial election entirely in French.

On Sept.1, Élections Québec announced that election information documents, which include the guide and reminder card that will be mailed to voters, would be French-only.

The move abides with Quebec’s language law, which became more strict in 2022 with the passage of Bill 96.

“Yesterday, I went to go get some mail and all I saw was French. I have no idea what it’s saying,” said William Tagoona, president of Avataq Cultural Institute.

His organization says Inuit voters will be disenfranchised if they have to navigate the provincial election in a language they don’t understand.

According to data collected in Nunavk in 2021, 8,770 out of 13,985 Indigenous respondents, or 62 per cent, reported they speak English only. A total of 1,550 respondents, or 11 per cent, reported they don’t speak English or French.

Tagoona said the decision is particularly troubling because Inuit have an exemption from certain Quebec language laws under the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, signed in 1975.

“Ever since elections were ever created, in provincial elections and federal elections, the ballots are not in a language that the majority of the Inuit understand,” Tagoona said. “They know very well that the majority of the Inuit don’t speak French.”

Élections Québec has asked since 2023 to be exempt from the law that forces government institutions to communication in French only. Last week, a Quebec Superior Court judge approved an emergency order for Élections Québec to mail out voter information in both English and French.

Tagoona said those materials haven’t reached his mailbox yet.

His riding, Ungava, is Quebec’s largest electoral district by geography and covers more than 855,000 square kilometres, encompassing much of northern Quebec and Nunavik. Five candidates are running.

“Right now if you were in Kuujjuaq, you would never know there was a provincial election,” he said. “You come to Kuujjuaq or any of our 14 villages, you won’t see one poster about any election at all.”

Tagoona would like future elections to be held in English as well as French, but seeing an Inuktitut option would be even better, he said.

Nunatsiaq News contacted Quebec’s ministry responsible for the protection of the French language for comment but has not received a response. Nunatsiaq News also reached out to Élections Québec but did not receive a response.

The Parti Québecois is leading in the polls against the Coalition Avenir Quebec, the current government. A recent Radio-Canada poll placed Parti Québecois in the lead at 29 per cent, with the Coalition Avenir Quebec at 22 per cent.

The Quebec Liberal Party is tied with the Parti conservateur du Québec, at about 19 per cent. About 12 per cent of those polled said they intend to vote for Québec solidaire, in last place.

— With files from Dominique Gené