‘Too many people have given up’: Why won’t more Nunavummiut vote?
People are disengaged and don’t see the value in casting ballots, observers say
From left, former clerk of the Nunavut legislative assembly John Quirke, former senator Dennis Patterson, and former MP Jack Anawak say the Nunavut public is disengaged from territorial affairs. That explains the low voter turnout, they say. (File photos)
The number of Nunavummiut voting at election time has been falling over the past two decades.
The reason, observers say, is disengagement.
Voter turnout rates for Nunavut territorial elections have been in decline in the past 25 years. (Created by Nunatsiaq News)
“Clearly, there’s a larger legitimacy crisis going on,” said Jerald Sabin, associate professor at Carleton University’s School of Public Policy and Administration in Ottawa, after October’s territorial elections saw only 48 per cent of eligible Nunavummiut cast a vote.
As Nunavut’s seventh legislative assembly hits the ground running, Nunatsiaq News took a look at what is driving voter habits in the territory.
Out of 22 ridings, two were won by acclamation — Hudson Bay and South Baffin — which meant there was no vote held because one person put themselves forward for the job. Daniel Qavvik stepped into the position in Hudson Bay and David Joanasie did the same in South Baffin.
A two-way race in Iqaluit-Sinaa had the lowest turnout, according to Elections Nunavut, with 32.5 per cent of the electorate coming out to ultimately choose Janet Pitsiulaaq Brewster.
Netsilik, won by Cecile Nelvana Lyall, had the highest voter participation with 65.8 per cent. She ran against four other candidates.
Nunavut saw the lowest voter turnout of all provinces and territories in the 2025 federal election, according to Statistics Canada. NDP incumbent Lori Idlout was elected after 36.8 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot. Canada’s second-lowest turnout was in Northwest Territories at 54.7 per cent.
The national turnout was 69.5 per cent.
A Statistics Canada study in 2022 found disengagement was the most common reason respondents gave for not voting in the 2021 federal election — 32 per cent said they weren’t interested in politics.
Neither Nunavut, Yukon nor the Northwest Territories were included in that study.
So why do Nunavummiut seem disengaged from politics? And what can be done about it?
“Too many people have given up,” said former MP Jack Anawak.
In the early days of Nunavut, voter turnout was higher. In 1999, the first territorial elections, 86.6 per cent of Nunavummiut voted. Anawak attributes that to the idea of Nunavut being “novel” at the time.
“People were thinking that Nunavut was gonna be a better form of territory than when we were under the Northwest Territories,” he said.
But over time, Inuit became disappointed in a public government that didn’t look like them. As of March 2025, Inuit employment across GN departments and territorial corporations was 52 per cent.
“The bureaucracy was supposed to be 80 per cent Inuit at this point in time,” Anawak said. “In some ways, colonialism is still being practised.”
John Quirke, the former longtime clerk of the legislative assembly, has a different take.
He said “disappointment” in the Nunavut government isn’t about how it looks — it’s whether people believe voting is improving their lives.
“Imagine this: I’m looking for housing. I am living with my extended family in crowded conditions. I have a problem feeding my family — food insecurity. I’m also maybe getting a little tired of having to boil my water,” Quirke said, describing what he feels many Nunavummiut experience.
“And then they hold the next general election, and nothing seems to have changed. Why bother voting then?”
Housing and food security are generational issues that are hard to crack with the Nunavut government’s limited resources, Quirke said.
Social media also exacerbated disengagement, says Dennis Patterson, who was N.W.T. premier from 1987 to 1991 — when its jurisdiction included Nunavut — and later a senator for Nunavut for 14 years.
When Patterson was running in elections, political campaigns relied on newspaper ads and radio debates. Now, most politicians use Facebook as their main platform.
“I think people in the North find themselves in a maze of influences and unfiltered information, which can at times cause grief and confusion and aggravate trauma,” he said.
As the internet and social media grew, Nunavut voter participation shrivelled. In 2021, Aluki Kotierk was re-elected president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. with just 16 per cent of Nunavut beneficiaries voting.
Voter turnout did rise to 66.7 per cent in the 2024 NTI presidential election — the year $100 gift cards were used as an incentive to get people to vote. But this move was criticized by some candidates and observers.
The GN would never go down this road, by Quirke’s estimation.
“I just do not believe that the GN would ever consider using public funds to pay individuals as an incentive to vote,” he said.
Instead, he said Nunavut should focus on young Nunavummiut — the generation that appears the most politically disengaged.
Nationally, turnout among those aged 18 to 24 in the 2021 federal election was 46.7 per cent, compared to 74.9 per cent for those aged 65 to 74.
To combat this, the territorial government should incorporate more political education in schools and bring back the tradition of a youth parliament that was retired during the COVID-19 pandemic, Quirke said.
Anawak agrees.
“I have great trust in our young people who are coming up, who recognize themselves as Inuit,” he said. “Young people will assert their rights to having a true Nunavut homeland.”
Because our government and organizations ignore us, the few consultations that do happen are meaningless and they don’t listen to the issues or needs in our communities, it’s like Iqaluit is Nunavut to them and don’t know anything else about Nunavut and our communities.
Inuit are not priority in Nunavut in our government, our government is too disconnected to Nunavut and Inuit, even the new housing that was built a couple of years ago, the design is not for Nunavut or Inuit, a two bedroom unit is designed for 2-3 people and the air exchange cannot handle 8-9 people living in the unit, mold starts to grow in this new unit, we have brought this up with housing GN officials and it goes no where, they don’t listen, with the housing shortage here we have to take on more people living in a small unit or they are left in tents or shacks for the winter. Some of these new units end up being condemned and closed off due to mold. Just after a few short years of construction. Our government do not listen to us, this is one small example,
Healthcare, education, our culture, GN does not listen or pay any attention, this is not our government, it’s for transients, why should we keep voting when they will not listen or do any work to make things better here? If you address this huge issue and actually start working for Inuit and Nunavut that’s when people will be more engaged and have a ownershyto our government and organizations. NTI is so disconnected now too it’s like our GN, we don’t know what they do or who they represent anymore.
Well, isn’t more then half the Population only have Gr. 5-9 if that?
Kind of hard to have realistic numbers when more then half the pop is on welfare.
It’s still only 20-30% voter turn out, doesn’t matter what western education you have, it comes down to what the government and organizations do or lack there of don’t do.
The GN with 3 billion annual budget for a population less than 40 thousand won’t do anything meaningful in Nunavut. Our GN is a cash cow for transient workers, consultants.
Majority of GN employees live in Iqaluit and rarely travel to any other community in Nunavut.
There is a massive disconnection at the GN with the majority people they represent.
What can the GN do to connect more with communities and use some of the 3 billion annual budget more on Nunavut? How can the GN improve and support education more in Nunavut, where the education system works better for Nunavut? Maybe a Inuktut curriculum would help.
What are your suggestions besides your best guess of what Inuit have for an education? Do you think your views about Nunavummiut might be a problem with how our GN is supposed to represent us?
I do not agree with the rationale here. People do not want to step in with old timers that keeps throwing their names to the hat. They have no idea that people do not want to driver1962 trucks anymore. I am an old timers, and don’t vote anymore for the relics, so I quit voting. Most old politicians do not realized that their political savvy is no longer needed. Their battery has expired. Specially the sister amigos.
Yup, nothing changes even the politicians are the same.
Apathy is rampant across the north, not just in politics. People are waiting for someone else to do it for them. They don’t realize the power that they have or how to use it.
Consensus style voting is crippling. In the last election my riding had meh candidates, while others had two or three good candidates and voters were only allowed to choose one . Nunavut has lost alot of helpful people to this style of election.
There is culture involved also. If a younger person does try, he/she often (have to) defer to elders wishes. Not criticising, just making a point.
Or bend to the southern way of doing things, which goes against our customs and culture.
Rather than answering your question, since I feel it’s an obvious answer I will instead pose a question to you; What has the government of Nunavut done for nunavummiut to inspire them to vote?
This is a kind of classic Nunavut perspective isn’t it? What can the government do for me? What should it do? If I fail to do ‘something’ I don’t question myself, clearly it’s the government’s responsibility.
The GN better do something for me! With an annual budget of over 3 BILLION dollars for such a small population the question is why is our government not doing very much for us?
It’s a valid question that no one can really answer, 25 plus years later our government is doing less with more money. Maybe if you work for the government you don’t really care too?
Counter Question; just be happy with world conflict is exploding everywhere. POTUS has gonecree. Despite the cold, political unsavory, GN Nepotism, drunken Inlanders, one party government. I’ll take this cold anytime, at lease land is not exploding all around me.
Polititians over-promised before division. After division, polititions stopped paying attention to Nunavummiut. Their focus was Ottawa.
The general feeling is that polititians are useless. They cannot be trusted. It does not matter who you vote for, nothing good will happen. So why bother voting?
What do MLAs actually do? They vote. They vote for laws. But then the laws get ignored.
It is against the law to sell tobacco products to someone under 19. It is against the law to give tobacco products to someone under 19. It is against the law to steal tobacco products.
Every time someone under 19 years of age smokes, someone is or has broken a law. So what? Has anyone ever in Nunavut been convicted of such a crime? Has anyone even been charged? If these laws were enforced about half of Nunavummiut would be convicted criminals.
People have no regard for MLAs because MLAs have not earned peoples’ regard.
The going price is still same .
“ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country”
We have to be able to differentiate between “not enough” and “nothing at all”. Nunavut has many challenges and all Goverments can do more to help its people, those are facts.
The GN is FAAAR from perfect, but it’s the governing system we have. What is the alternative if we don’t want to work with it? I’m literally asking because I don’t know what that answer is. Its certainly not rejoining the NWT, joining Greenland, or separating from Canada; that would fix zero issues. Or maybe it is, I just haven’t heard much noise about these options.
As long as we feel our governments impose on us, we will always be blind to the fact that we are the government; its a representation. And that fact won’t go away with independence or Denmark at the head.
If you want to see a more representative GN, ask yourself what you are doing to achieve that. There’s no magic button that gets ride of transients, or those darned elusive colonizers mulling about.
I don’t say this to defend the GN, I know it’s flawed. I just see many of you doing good, hard work for your community and territory only to be deflated by this nihilistic rhetoric.