St-Julien a likely shoo-in for Nunavik

Nunavik doesn’t have its own federal riding, but its 4,500 votes are key in deciding who wins the June 28 federal election in the sprawling Nunavik-Eeyou riding.

This time, just as in the two last federal elections, winning the Inuit, Cree and Naskapi vote is essential for victory, since First Nations and Inuit comprise one-fifth of the 58,000 potential voters.

That’s why Liberal incumbent Guy St-Julien is off and running again from one end of the huge riding to the other. His goal: to get out the northern vote on the 28th. With that, he can easily win again.

According to St-Julien, his campaign tour is going “super-well,” but he isn’t taking his re-election for granted and he’s appealing to his “Inuit friends” to get out and vote.

During the 1997 federal election, St-Julien received fewer votes than the Bloc Québécois candidate in the southern portion of the riding, but won because of the 1,578 votes he received in Nunavik.

In 2000, votes from the Inuit and Cree regions once more gave St-Julien the edge he needed over a popular BQ candidate.

Outside the northern portion of the riding, the BQ candidate and St-Julien were neck-and-neck, with each pulling 41 per cent of the vote, but Nunavik and the two most northerly Cree communities, Chisasibi and Whapmagoostui, gave St-Julien a whopping 77 per cent of the vote.

This time, the total number of potential votes from First Nations and Inuit is even higher than before as the native communities of Ouje-Bougamou and Kawachikamach are now within the riding’s boundaries, while the francophone town of Amos is out. Called “Nunavik-Eeyou” until Sept. 1, the riding changes its name again to Abitibi-James Bay-Nunavik-Eeyou.

Louis Lavoie, news director with the l’Écho Abitienne newspaper in Val d’Or, said St-Julien is likely to be re-elected because of his enormous popularity among First Nations and Inuit.

St-Julien’s edge is so large that none of the other parties, including the BQ, which may sweep aside the Liberals in other regions of Québec, is even attempting to run a “star” candidate in the riding. As well, no high-profile Liberal ministers are planning to visit Val d’Or, or Lavoir, a sure sign the Liberals consider the riding safe.

St-Julien has represented the region in the House of Commons since the 1980s, although he spent four years out of office from 1993 to 1997, as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party.

Reached on the hustings on the long road between Matagami and Chisasibi, St-Julien had no trouble reciting a long shopping list of what he wants to accomplish for Nunavik over the next four years – including a sweeping Canada-Inuit agreement that would take off where the James Bay and Northern Agreement stops, and a guarantee for more housing and recreational facilities, assistance for elders, improved transportation and regional economic development and self-government.

St-Julien also said he won’t forget about pursuing the investigation into the killing of Inuit sled dogs in the 1950s and 1960s and the need to build a better museum in Inukjuak.

St-Julien said he still intends to fight for a separate seat for Nunavik in parliament, so that an Inuk will eventually represent the region.

Despite his lack of fluency in English, St-Julien has managed to develop a relationship with Nunavimmiut.

“I’m there for all the big occasions. Sometimes the events that are very sad, such as the avalanche in George River,” he said. “I am there for the tears and the joy, les pleurs et la joie.”

The BQ candidate, Yvon Lévesque, is an affable, retired construction worker and union activist who has travelled as far north as Kuujjuaraapik. He’s frustrated that, as a member of Parliament, St-Julien has the means to travel to the northern communities that will decide this election. Largely uninformed about the issues in Nunavik, Lévesque said the first thing he’d do if elected is head north.

Lévesque said it’s possible to win without northern, native support, but he would prefer to have this backing.

A sovereigntist, Lévesque said he would still work on behalf of the region in Ottawa, not for Quebec sovereignty.

Additional candidates are expected to officially register by next week’s deadline from the NDP, the Green Party, and the Conservative Party.

Elections Canada’s electoral office is in Val d’Or. The riding’s chief electoral officer, Richard Séguin, said polls will be set up in every Nunavik community on June 28, while voters in Kuujjuaq will also have an advance poll on June, 18, 19 and 21. Other voters may request absentee ballots by mail, by calling 1-866-216-5311.