Quebec premier endorses Nunavik riding

ODILE NELSON

Premier Bernard Landry publicly supported the idea of a Nunavik provincial riding last week — a declaration that could some day lead to an Inuit representative sitting in Quebec’s National Assembly.

Landry made the commitment during the unveiling of an inuksuk on the grounds of Quebec’s legislature last Thursday.

The traditional Inuit landmark was commissioned by the Quebec government and Makivik Corporation to symbolize the growing relationship between the province of Quebec and Nunavimmiut.

Landry’s remarks, however, jumped away from the symbolism of the day and seemed to offer Nunavimmiut a concrete promise of political representation in the future.

“We’ve recognized the Inuit as a nation since 1985. But since we manage a substantial part of the territory of Quebec together, it’s reasonable that they should be represented in our assembly. It’s an idea we support completely,” Landry said.

Landry added legal discussions on how to create such a riding were already underway. But he did not promise his government would complete the negotiations before the next provincial election expected in 2003.

Opposition members at the event supported the idea of a Nunavik riding.

But some questioned whether Landry and his ruling Parti Québecois government should pursue the issue as their mandate draws to a close.

Jean Charest, the Liberal leader, said establishing the riding was simply too great a task for the current government to accomplish before the next election.

“It’s a job for the first mandate of the next government,” he said.

Creating a Nunavik riding could prove a long and complicated process given Quebec’s current electoral legislation.

Quebec law states there must be between 122 and 125 provincial electoral divisions in Quebec and each of these ridings must have a similar population.

According to the latest provincial population statistics, the average riding should have close to 53,000 people on its voters list. The law says any deviation from this average should not exceed 25 per cent.

But the Ungava riding, which Nunavik is presently a part of, has a population of only 22,593. It already strays from the provincial electoral riding average by close to 50 per cent.

Since Nunavik has only about 10,000 residents, Quebec’s electoral commission could only create a Nunavik riding by making a significant exception to its legislation.

Yet such exceptions do exist. The riding of Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, for example, has a population of roughly 10,000.

Legislation setting electoral boundary changes for an approximate 10-year duration could also stall the process.

Since the Quebec electoral commission recently set the province’s boundaries in December 2001, a Nunavik riding could not become a reality until roughly 2011 under existing legislation.

Politicians, however, discussed few of these technicalities during the National Assembly period that followed the inuksuk unveiling.

Instead, the MNAs restricted their comments to marking the inuksuk’s unveiling and supporting the idea of a Nunavik riding in principle.

“There are only a few short steps left to reach the next stage, that is to have a Nunavik representative sitting inside the National Assembly,” said Geoff Kelley, the Liberal northern affairs critic.

“I reiterate the position… of our Liberal leader, the representative for Sherbrooke [Jean Charest], that our political party supports the idea of creating a riding for Nunavik in the National Assembly. We want you to have your place to participate in the debates that happen inside this assembly.”

Makivik President Pita Aatami said he was mildly encouraged to hear the PQ government and opposition parties support the idea of a Nunavik riding.

But he stressed that words, though better than symbolism, were not actions.

“Once I see it signed on the dotted line I’ll believe it,” Aatami said. “For them to say they’d look into it, that’s a commitment. But it was encouraging to hear the other parties also support the idea. Now it will be a wait-and-see game.”