NTI offers $100 gift card to encourage voter participation in presidential election
Incentivizing voters with vouchers is ‘unethical’ and ‘immoral,’ first Inuk MP says
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the legal representative for all Inuit in Nunavut, will offer a $100 gift card to beneficiaries as an incentive to vote in its Dec. 9 election for president. (File photo)
Updated on Friday, November 15, 2024 at 3:30 p.m. ET
Candidates running for president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. are split on the idea of giving Inuit voters a $100 gift card for casting a ballot in next month’s election, with some arguing it’s undemocratic.
Inuit beneficiaries in Nunavut will vote Dec. 9 for a new president of NTI, the organization responsible for ensuring obligations made to Nunavut Inuit under the Nunavut Agreement are upheld.
All eligible voters who show up at the advance polls on Dec. 2, mobile polls Dec. 3 to Dec. to 6, or on election day Dec. 9 will receive a voucher that can be redeemed for a $100 gift card from their Co-op or Northern store by the end of the year, NTI announced in a press release Thursday.
The vouchers are one of the initiatives to “encourage voter participation.” NTI is also providing each candidate a $5,000 credit for campaign travels and a televised all-candidates debate.
In 2021, Aluki Kotierk was elected president in an election that saw 17.5 per cent of voters cast ballots. Kotierk is not running for re-election, leaving the field open to four contenders.
There are approximately 34,000 Nunavut beneficiaries in the territory, according to the federal government. If 20,000 voted, the incentive would cost NTI $2 million.
“It’s unethical and it’s immoral,” Peter Ittinuar said of the voucher initiative. Ittinuar is a former MP and was the first Inuk elected to the House of Commons.
“This is buying votes, and it’s undermining the electoral process,” he said adding it’s a Third World country practice.
Cathy Towtongie was the only one of the four candidates to speak against NTI’s initiative.
“We have to be careful that we are not perceived as buying votes,” Towtongie said in a phone call after the voucher initiative was announced.
“NTI has to be careful that it’s not conducting a fraud election,” she said, adding it’s not the way democratic elections should be conducted in Canada
Nicole Camphaug and Jeremy Tunraluk both spoke in favour while Andrew Nakashuk had no comment “as the decision was already made.”
“I think it’s a great incentive for NTI to do for everybody,” Camphaug said. “If you want change, you have to vote. Everybody’s vote matters.”
Tunraluk called the initiative “phenomenal,” adding it’s “unnerving” that a person with such great influence as the president of NTI can be elected by such a small margin of the population.
Incentivizing voters with money is not a standard practice in Canadian politics.
Ittinuar said the initiative speaks to the “corporatization” of NTI, especially at times of the “questionable” financial state of the corporation referring to the underperformance of Nunavut Trust that left NTI $4 million in debt.
“Voting is a civic duty, not a way to make money. This is just wrong,” he said.
An NTI representative could not be reached for comment.
Clarification and correction: The headline on this article has been updated from its originally published version to reflect that the $100 vouchers are aimed at increasing voter participation. This article has also been updated to correct advance and mobile polling dates.
Not a fan of Cathy, but hers is the only opinion on this issue with any sophistication.
The others showcase a profound, almost juvenile lack of understanding and concern for the integrity of democratic institutions.
Voter turnout has been so low, something probably needed to be done. It is sad but voter apathy is a major problem in all developed countries. I think this practice would be a serious problem if the incumbent was running again and is a problem if she is endorsing anyone, because it is a measure she presumably approved as head of NTI, but otherwise I do not see how it favours one candidate over another one… and people receive financial incentives for everything in Nunavut including going on training, consultations etc… and NTI is still an advocacy non profit organization as opposed to a government so rules are bound to be a little different.
Low voter turn out is a concern because engagement confers legitimacy on the results of the democratic process.
I would argue paying people to vote will have the opposite effect.
What benefits do we expect from incentivizing people who would not organically vote? Is there a hidden price we’ll pay for the triumph of a disengaged, apathetic and more ignorant block of voters?
Sounds like a conspiracy the way you’re writing
Sounds more like a nod to unintended consequences: “outcomes of an action that are not intended or foreseen.”
Think it over.
Thanks, Yikes; disagree with you but appreciate your comment
It would be more palatable if the monetary reward was set to the percentage of votes, i.e., 30% equals a $3000 voucher from HTO much like the old hunter support equipment up to say 80%.
Not sure if I want to get a voucher for voting. If a candidate stirs my interest and their platform is acceptable, I will go and vote for them, and may even advocate for that person. Would be fun hearing this from all angles and reasoning for such pedantic choices.
I am totally against this. And you wonder why the Indigenous population doesn’t want to work, too much HAND OUTS (free money). Over the past few years, Indigenous people have been spoon fed sooo much, it’s not funny. This is buying people’s votes. People of Nunavut should care enough about our Territory and care enough to go out and vote for the best possible leaders to represent Inuit. As a Inuk, I will not be accepting this gift card when I vote. Shame on NTI for doing this, I would never have imagined that any Inuit organization would buy votes or in other words hand outs
If I vote 10x do I get $ 1000? Asking 4 a friend
Vote turn out has been low because remember all the money we were supposed to get from NTI I’m still waiting on that but for me $100 when do I go Vote now.
can be redeemed for a $100 gift card from their Co-op or Northern
What about the beneficiaries outside the Territory ??
A gift card to Winners? EMT
What a joke NTI has become , only 3 people seem to be making decisions – Aluki , KKk and probably Paul but he never speaks . Why wasn’t this on the AGM agenda to get other ideas ??
I live outside the territory. Can I vote? Do not give me money, I’ll vote.
in the post released by NTI, Nunavut Inuit located outside of the territory will receive the same, it’ll just be mailed out after the election in a pre-paid visa card
if you live outside of nunavut you shouldnt even be allowed to vote.
Billionaire Elon Musk tried to do the same thing.. but that’s bribery and it’s against the law.
I think you’re getting a us presidential election confused with a beneficiary issue. If it’s their money. Who cares
We care as Beneficiaries of the Land Claim. Many of us are worried that funds are being misused by this group. We are not being shown any financial statements. The money isn’t Aluki’s or the CEO’s personal account to do whatever they want.
Me and my 9 Brothers and 79 Cuzzins who and working couldn’t make it asked me to vote for them.
Now gimme my , I mean their money….
THATS HILARIOUS !!!!!!!!!!!!!
With the current voter participation rates, you and your “9 Brothers and 79 Cuzzins” could probably win the election.
Vote.
Too unsafe. Our stomach just makes noises, nobody wants to be apart of government involvement, they don’t hire Inuit to save up or to get experience. Same old employees. Family related territory. Bad for rest of nunavummiut. Not safe at all.
We need more Inuit control. More Inuit to protect its community from non Inuit ideas. More say and protections from all those nurses and who travels to Nunavut. The non Inuit have too much control over our land, it’s taking away our high paying jobs, our health is always at risk, all they wanna do is check up on their files and see their history and spreading them to different nurses. More privacy and protection from health care system. We pay alot of power bills, house fuel, homeowners and those who works hard, public units are well paid while they get all the jobs, and just ignoring homeowners when they pay a lot of power bills, house fuel, food. And never gets hired to pay for those qulliq energy power bills for homeowners.
Most non-inuit are here because there was no qualified inuk for the job. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Get an education! Finish high school, learn a trade, go to college or university. Then and only then will nunavut really be nunavut.
If only N.T.I. was for the B.I.M. expansion. But hey, theys want to give us a gift card now to vote. I’ll vote you out. Need new faces with pro mining and jobs ideas.
It’s not that simple as going to trades, university or college. Access to post-secondary education is a huge barrier. The non-Inuk consultant hired by the GN specifically recommended that a university not be created in Nunavut, making it difficult for many to pursue education in the upper level management and specialized positions. Non-Inuit have an advantage in educational attainment because of multitude other factors they don’t need to face. The government staff housing and relocation policies places more priorities in recruiting from the south, by the millions every year; $20 million subsidized staff housing, subsidized shipping and relocation costs, travel and accommodations for family – and get this, the QEC had a very specific instructions to recruit non-Inuit with pamphlets ‘Make sure to include your microwave as we can cover the cost of shipping for that too’, while penalizing Inuit recruits for speaking out about the inequities – non-Inuit get guaranteed pension while collective agreements prohibits rights and benefits to majority Inuit placed on casual status, even if they are qualified with education. Unfortunately, as non-Inuit all over the world whom are the minority, control vast segments of developing countries and reap the benefits of land and resources because of poverty induced upon the majority not within their control. The inequities here are very real here, compounded by bias that is based on excuses that Inuit ‘just need to go get an education’.
Some of what you say is true. the GN does put a lot of effort into hiring from the South. However they also put a lot of effort into making sure no one from the south stays long enough to become part of the community and learn how things are done here and how to make the GN a better place for all Nunavutmiut (Inuk and non-Inuk). Yes they pay you to move you to a new job. A lot of places do this for recruitment. What Nunavut does different is also Pays people to leave. and pay to store people stuff in the south so they dont feel like they are truly living in Nunavut, but just passing through.
Job suppliers in various places like offices, kitchens, hotels, city utility drivers, others that don’t need a high school diploma also offer jobs, like house keeping, drivers, etc.
With all do respect, there is no sense in putting a university in a place where roughly a third of kids graduate high school. Only about 1% of inuit have university degrees. Focus on getting high school numbers up but a university doesnt make any sense at this point. Greenland has a university and most of their students aren’t even greenlandic. Is that what nunavut wants?
Wow
where to begin with this. I am sorry i didnt want to become a doctor or Nurse. I also dont think any of my kids want to either… but they will get an education and do something to help our community. I hope you are making our kids do something other then rely on the $100 for voting.
And hopfuly they will be able to get their own home and not relay on the GN. I know NTI wont be providing low income housing or even high income housing. Also NTI wont be the ones that provide the education my kids will get… because they are not organized enough to do the one thing they should be doing.
Whatsoever it take to become a communist society from voting?
Inuit were once a communist society but the commodity took over..
Commodity is asking for votes, and willing to pay anyone who wish to watse money. I would rather have a plebiscite vote over if they still want to be part of Canada…….
Make them see the real votes,,,, not just half way or part way done…
Vote only get a small work done by those only who care for certain voters..
Fascismis done from voting….
So as the tax dollar fundings…
Why should we vote is the question?
For who, why…when…all for pretend system services…
Jail is no longer necessary to scare anyone anymore…
Cops are being disliked…
It’s a mess….
Shenanigans in Nunavut C-A-N get funnier.😂 Only in “None of it”.
Can I auction off my vote to the highest bidder of the NTI candidates?
(I’ll take a free house, hunting gear and a pallet of whiskey.”🤣🤘🥳💕
As a beneficiary, I do not agree with this at all. Stop with these hand outs! NTI will not buy my vote! It’s pretty sad that only Cathy is the only candidate against this.
I am a beneficary, and its my money anyway.
One of the cadidates is a friend of the american CEO and decided to test this out without consulting inuit. Buying votes now? What about the housing money in your bank that is for Inuit.
Simple fact – when the public isn’t informed on happenings of organizations, they loose interests. That’s the biggest reason why people don’t go out to vote anymore. QIA seems to be doing a good job of informing the public and so the public is interested. NTI seemed to be become an organization just to themselves and ilainarsiutut- just serving friends.
NTI used to be very vocal in the past before Aluki and her crew took over. Now it’s just court cases. There’s no place for the public to hold them accountable.
To be fair to Aluki NTI has always been quite. and using money for expensive first class trips all over the world… though I do hear this is one of the things Aluki did change. Any travel they do now is economy. Though still all over the world.
Politics in Nunavut is trash. Screw NTI.
Wakallanga, NTI mindset wants to buy my vote. Be creative man, such as photo ID beneficiary card that can be used at Canadian airports???🍁
the low voter turn out may be an indication of what the territory things of NTI, or how irrelevant they are in todays society, they seem so out of touch, only to come to the territory for meetings. id take the 100, i need it for my family. but the last election should have been a wake up call with less than 1 out of 5 voters showing up. if they had any sway in today society, or if they thought they had any clout, this should tell them something.
34,000 Beneficiaries, sure, but how many are too young to vote?
According to stats Canada, the population was 30,700 in 2021, so where is 34,000 in territory even coming from? Has there been that much population growth in 3 years?
Even with the 34k stat, 20,000 would be over 90% turnout for adults.
The problem here is that NTI has hundreds of millions of dollars sitting in their bank accounts for a few years now, these funds for whatever reason have not been getting out to Inuit, federal government funds that have a expiration date and those dates are coming up soon, NTI not doing the work and sitting on all these funds will be doing things like this, last minute spending.
With a lack of transparency and lack of communication by NTI most of the beneficiaries do not know about all this funding, I wish the media would pick up on it more and do some investigation and report on it. It would shock Inuit knowing how much federal funds have been sitting in NTI bank account for the last three years. Hundreds of millions. Current president and CEO have not done a great job.
No one is buying votes, if the current president was running I can see it might look like that, but she isn’t. This is a incentive to go out and vote to increase voter turn out that it. Inuit are not spoon fed otherwise we would live the high live, expensive cars, houses and opportunities for employment within Nunavut by both level of government and we wouldn’t have poverty.
Not spoon fed you said? If an Inuk and a non inuk apply for the same job, the inuk has a lower passing score than the non-inuk. This creates a pool of people who are not qualified for the job. And there are a million and more benefits that an inuk can utilize. unfortunately only the educated inuk are utilizing this. how many inuk parents you know who lives here but has kids in private school down south? I know quite a fair bit, yet these parents are also the loudest champion of inuktitut but their own kids are getting educated in the south away from inuit culture/inuktitut. do as i say but not as i do!
If NTI should focus on 1 thing it should be Education. Not just education in the southern extent of the word but also traditionally knowledge as well. And also basic community education like being involved in community govt and organizations… with out having to be paid $100 for a 30 second task like voting.
It’s not federal funds, it’s Inuit funds, through the Nunavut Agreement(modern day treaty) there is a difference between federal funding and land claims funding. Learn the difference.
See Johnny, you have no clue what NTI has, yes the Federal Government gave funds for the Nunavut Agreement, we all know that, what you don’t know is on top of that a few years ago NTI received hundreds of millions again from the feds for training, infrastructure and housing.
NTI for the last thre years or so have been sitting on all these new funding and not reporting back to its beneficiaries. Set up a new department costing millions and they do not report on that new department, self government, hired staff and consultants and don’t report on it, spending millions and handling millions out to certain people and organizations but ignoring others.
NTI has been swimming in new federal money and has failed Nunavut. The Feds will use this and say we have given you hundreds of millions before and you did not do much with it so we are not giving you more, you can’t manage these funds, that’s the legacy this current NTI is leaving behind.
I want my card made out to the Beer N Wine store.
God , i love free money !
i have casted my vote every since NTI was created, can you make this retro-active to day 1 and i promise i will vote on every future election can you give me an advance on my future votes?
I hate to agree with Cathy on anything, but yeah, she’s right.
To the people who think it’s not a big deal or a good idea, it might seem like that now because the incumbent isn’t running, what happens in the next election if the president wants to run again? Now it’s not NTI giving you $100, it’s NTI under the leadership of that incumbent giving you money. How is that not buying votes?
Great observation… boom
Remember a year ago , NTI had an advertisement looking for someone to be mentored under Aluki and follow her to big meetings ? An elected position mentoring for an elected position – Maybe Nicole was picked ?? lol and she has been mentored.
Cathy is the only one who wasn’t scared to say the truth, and this shows leadership skills. LOL, Nicole may have planned it with her boss. It shows she would go ahead without consulting the Beneficiaries.
To Jeremy’s comment – ITK President is elected by only 5 people to be in charge of Millions. To Andrew’s comment “as the decision was already made.” shows that he can’t make changes.
does it make us “peers” now ? we Inuit are getting out of times … now we Inuit have to get baited to strike a pc of paper with a check mark…wonder what next for the next election !
make gasoline cheaper instead…
Maybe we’s tired of nuthin’ being done when they sez theys gonna do it. Nunavut territory. A big farce.
The first ones to benefit will be NTI employees and their families. If the average Inuk from the hood goes to collect their money i.e. vote, what are the odds that they’ll know anything about the candidates?
Address the problem of voter apathy rather than pay them off.
Paying people to vote will bring many young people to vote that have no idea about politics and who they are voting for. Not really caring about who wins just there for the payout.
I don’t normally vote for Cathy but I’ll vote for her for disagreement with $100 gift card to anyone who cast their vote.
$100 is a step up from hamburgers, hot dogs, juice boxes and the condiments on Nunavut Day. If members have a problem receiving these gift cards, maybe you can pay it forward. As Cathy is the only candidate to openly oppose the idea of NTI issuing gift cards in return for “voting for a change” will members now vote “not Cathy”?
whether you vote for her or not, you still get your $100 gift card.
The voter turnout has been horrid. The best way to get people to attend any meetings now is with door prizes. This is another way to try to get more people to vote. I am at a loss with Cathy calling this a bribe as she is famous for prizes for her radio call ins in the communities. For those who don’t want it, donate your hundred dollar card to a family in need, it is the season.
Door prizes for whatever event is categorically different than paying people to vote. This is a corruption of the democratic process. Sorry you are unable to see that.
I have voted numbers of in past nti elections, I want retroactive voting pay lol
Will they provide free rides to the voting station?
I have never been so embarassed to be a Nunavut beneficiary. 🙁
As Inuit, we have a tendency to shoot ourselves in the foot. It is an insult to Inuit to think that Inuit need to be handed $100 to come and vote. Even colonizers never did that to us. What happens in a year where NTI does not provide vouchers? Will voter turnout just plummet to zero? And what does it say about NTI if the CEO’s secretary is running to be president of NTI and become the CEO’s boss? It may not be illegal for the secretary to run but what does it say about us? Why could NTI not just do debates and provide a rebate of $5000 for those candidates that get x% of the vote? And recently, NTI has been receiving housing, infrastructure and health funding. Does that not undermine the authority if our territorial government?
how many more handouts are we expected to get before Christmas, my kids want Ipads
There is no bribery going on here…unless NTI says “vote for candidate A, and we’ll give you $100”, but they are NOT saying that. They’re saying “Just go vote for anyone, just vote, and we’ll give you $100″…because a 17% voter turn out is horrible!
Ideally, you don’t want to give money to get voters to voter, but they’re trying something out of the normal to try to get a bigger voter turnout.
Will this get more people to go vote, absolutely!
Will people expect this from future vote, most likely!
It’s a slippery slope for sure. But as long as they’re not endorsing a candidate, then it’s not bribery…it’s more paying your members to go vote.
“A bribe is an illegal or unethical gift or lobbying effort bestowed to influence the recipient’s conduct.”
Bribing your members to go vote, is still bribery…
After reading this, I feel dumber, that’s one of the stupidest things I’ve ever read in my life, it’s so sad, I feel bad for you Nunavutmuit.
Posted by 819 on Nov 14, 2024
Billionaire Elon Musk tried to do the same thing.. but that’s bribery and it’s against the law…… Really! Elon Musk gave $75 for Trumps campaign, not to people. Please 819 don’t vote,
Wow, My mind is blown, $2million dollars and we can’t even pay our current students fans on time for going to secondary school, and you want to give away TWO MILIION DOLLARS to someone whom is staying up all night, but yet they have a lot of words for whom is elected on how they are doing their job best they can with what they are given. and Day care close cause you have no money to run them or pay for staff, but yet Gandalf the Grey magically hands out TWO MILLION DOLLARS. What happened to NTI’s $4m Debt? oh I mean now $6m Debt.
Governance in Nunavut is such a bad joke.
There is never a serious attempt to stem the dysfunction.
those commenting no transparency, aren’t their board meetings and materials made public or accessible to the public? I don’t understand.
as well, they scheduled and announced a debate at the high school here in Iqaluit, allowing people to submit their questions ahead of time to the communications department or have time during that debate to ask questions. I have mixed feelings about the voucher but rather than focusing on that, how else would you tackle the turn out? this decision to issue vouchers was not made by just the two (President//CEO) people, why don’t you ask NTI how they came to this decision instead of assuming it.
Because this NTI does not return calls, emails and if you show up in person you will be turned away.
They do not want to answer any questions and they do not include many things at their board meetings for the public, they go in-camera for that.
I don’t know if you have been living under a rock, but for the last two terms that is how NTI has been conducting itself.
Waste for two terms.
I am sure the candidates are very relieved. No need to develop stances on issues or make any promises they might get held to.
Not a good precedence. Pavlov’s Dog Bell Test in full display. Only in NU.
If this $100 Incentive to Buy Votes happens (what else do you “Identify” to categorize it as?) , Inuit will expect it for every Election. Every time. Every Year. Every time.
NTI just shot itself in the foot. Whoever spearheaded this decision should be fired. If it’s a collective decision by NTI then Nunavut isn’t or can’t ever be ready for progress. Progress, you know, like any society that can decide and choose to make lives better with involvement.
Inuit, if they don’t get something free they won’t participate is a sad truthful statement of Nunavut.
Wonder how many spoiled votes
It takes about an hour to go and vote.
The $100 voucher is for your time not for your vote.
I cast my vote every election day and vote whom ever I believe would be representing me accordingly. To pay me $100 to cast my vote, top list will do
we need to tell them to vote for anyone except cathy towtongie
Did you know that 21 countries (including Australia) have compulsory voting.
It is a civic duty in those countries.
Turnout in Australia, for example, after permitted exemptions is 91%.
Food for thought.
It is xmas and everyone and not just folks that wait to be given handouts this time of year should be given something. The only folks that benefit from NU are in public housing and on income support. Like I wish to pay $60 month rent…my house fuel filled up, municipal services, power for all those that are in public housing so yea I will take my $100 and vote for a good candidate who is inclusive. Oh thank God we didn’t buy the phone company, we would have been paying 1.5 billion back for the next 40 years using Inuit money no thank you. $100 is small talk
My Vote is not for sale
Out of the four candidates, who is best to make changes at NTI? My vote will be cast to the one that will make the changes at NTi upper management.