Will First Nations and Inuit in Northern Quebec feel represented after this election?

“It's time that Inuit started controlling their own destiny”

As federal party leaders look to the North for mining resources and Arctic security, Inuit leader Pita Aatami says his community’s votes will be buried under an avalanche of southern voters. 

Aatami is the president of Makivik Corporation, one of the governing bodies of Nunavik, the Inuit territory that spans northern Quebec and part of Labrador. Aatami says the way that Nunavik’s electoral riding (Abitibi–Baie-James–Nunavik–Eeyou) is designed discourages Inuit from voting in Canadian elections. 

“Every election that comes around, we're always wondering, ‘what's going to happen now?’ because we don't have the population base to get a person elected into parliament,” says Aatami. 

Nunavik is part of the largest electoral riding in Quebec in terms of land mass, spanning 700,000 km². To the north, the Abitibi–Baie-James–Nunavik–Eeyou riding includes the Cree and Naskapi First Nations located in Quebec and Inuit in Nunavik. Further south, there are some Anishinaabe communities like Lac-Simon and Kitcisakik - and some non-Indigenous towns, like Val D’Or and Senneterre.

Combined, the Cree of Eeyou-Istchee, the Naskapi near Labrador and Inuit of Nunavik in the Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou riding make up 32,900 people - out of the riding’s total population of around 90,000. For years, these Cree, Naskapi and Inuit have been fighting to get their own electoral riding. They argue they form a community with distinct interests, which could justify creating a separate riding for them according to the Electoral Knowledge Network (in which Elections Canada is a contributing partner). 

“For many, many years, Inuit have been dictated to. So it's time that Inuit started controlling their own destiny,” says Aatami.

For years, Aatami and other First Nations leaders have advocated for First Nations and Inuit in Northern Quebec to have their own electoral riding.

“Why? Why are we treated differently? We want equality,” says Aatami. 

Quebec electoral boundaries commission says they were respecting Canadian law

During the public hearings for the 2022-2023 electoral redesign, Quebec’s electoral boundaries commission heard the request for a northern Quebec riding.

According to Louis Massicotte, who was one of the three Quebec commissioners back in 2022-2023, the Commission chose not to create that riding because the region’s population was too low, and this redistribution would impact southern voters. 

“In this case, frankly, the request that was addressed to us had pretty big consequences in terms of voter equality. That’s the reason [we didn’t approve it],” says Massicotte. 

The commission’s rationale is listed in their report. For more information, see the text box at the bottom of this article.

If First Nations and Inuit in northern Quebec got their own riding, the redistribution commission would have to amalgamate Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou’s 60,000 southern voters into another electoral riding. If they were added to the neighbouring Abitibi-Témiscamingue riding, they would have over 140,000 people in a riding - which would mean their votes would be diluted. 

In order for northern Quebec to get its own riding, Massicotte says that Canadian legislation would have to be modified and there would need to be a proposal that outlines how the impacts on the ridings down south could be managed. He says the commission was all-ears on Indigenous concerns. 

“I don’t think there’s ever been a commission that has been as sympathetic to Indigenous people as ours. The fact that we added ten Indigenous names to ridings in Quebec, one for each nation in Quebec, and that wasn’t asked of us by Indigenous people. It was the commission’s initiative,” he says. 

But Pita Aatami stresses that the distinctiveness between the South and Northern Indigenous communities should have allowed them to get their own riding. 

“We're very distinct. Our realities are very different from our certain neighbors, issues that they might have. And the cost of living is something that we've been struggling with for many, many years. For the most part, we've gotten support thanks to both governments, but still not up to par with the rest of Canada. And one thing that I'm always fighting for is, I want to be treated as an equal. I'm a taxpaying citizen. I want to get the same benefits that my fellow Canadians get,” says Aatami. 

Federal candidates promise northern riding, infrastructure, and more services in Northern Quebec

Liberal hopeful Mandy Gull-Masty hopes to change that. She stepped down as grand chief of Eeyou Istchee (Eeyou Istchee is the Cree territory in northern Quebec) to run in this federal election in the Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou riding. 

La Converse spoke with Gull-Masty at the start of her campaign, where she was planning on visiting as many communities as possible across the riding’s vast territory. She’s the only federal candidate for Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou who has stopped in Nunavik along her campaign trail. 

“Sometimes that means upwards of eight hours of driving. I'm used to it. I'm from the territory. I've lived in Eeyou Istchee all my life,” explains Gull-Masty. “I know all of the shortcuts. I know all of the back roads. And I plan to really work hard to show the riding that I'm there to serve them,” she says. 

She says she wants to bring Indigenous priorities in the region to the forefront. Among them, increasing accessibility to country food (hunted/gathered food from the region), community engagement, improving infrastructure and the economy, and addressing the lack of services in Cree and Inuit communities.

“There are some gaps in [health care] services when you come from a northern community,” she says. “I have two little cousins. They're autistic. They don't get the [support] services. They have to go to Montreal. You don't get consistent quality care when [health care workers] are not present in the region, and that's really important to me. I've used the health care services throughout the territory from Chibougamou to Val D'or to the north. We are entitled to the same quality of care as everybody across Canada.”

She added that the economic area was her biggest priority. The Liberal party has been pushing for more resource development, including oil and gas pipelines to stimulate Canada’s economy. In her time as grand chief, Gull-Masty says she learned how to walk the tightrope between respecting Indigenous rights to protect traditional territories while opening some of them up for development. 

“There are people in the Cree Nation, there are people in the riding that want to protect more [land]. I understand that. I identify with that. But there are also people who need employment. They want to start a business. They're entrepreneurs. They're looking for contract work. When you are in a political seat, you are working for everybody on that spectrum. You have to have the capacity to understand where the balance is between those two points of view,” she says. 

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“I have won an international prize on being recognized as a visionary leader in conservation. I've also in my career developed companies that relate to mining projects,” says Gull-Masty. 

She’s in support of getting Nunavik its own riding that would potentially include Cree and Naskapi territories in Quebec. 

“When I was Grand Chief, when they were trying to redefine the electoral boundaries, I supported Pita in his request. It's a huge riding. The reality of living in a very small Inuit community in Nunavik is not the same as living in the reality of Chapais or Senneterre… If this is the direction that Nunavik wants to go, I mean, who am I to say that they don't have in mind their best interest? I’m supportive of that,” she says. 

Bloc Québécois MP Sylvie Bérubé has only visited Nunavik twice since she was elected in the riding in 2019, and only met Pita Aatami once. 

While the Bloc Québécois did not respond to La Converse’s interview request, in an interview with Nunatsiaq News, Bérubé said she’d visit Nunavik “a bit more often, at least once or twice a year” if re-elected. She pointed to securing $45 million allocated for “reconciliatory programming” and for revitalizing dogsledding in Nunavik - a practice the federal government once actively tried to extinguish by slaughtering dogs in the region in the 1950s and 60s.

In a phone interview with La Converse, NDP candidate Thai Dillon Higashihara said his party has a better track record with Indigenous rights than the Liberal Party.

“It's great that the Liberals have chosen an Indigenous candidate, but it's not enough when you look at the party's track record and you compare that to the NDP always having a much more robust plan to actually have indigenous voices on the table,” he says.

Higashihara called Liberal advances on Indigenous issues “piecemeal,” pointing out that the Liberal government has stalled on actions to address missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and only recently started advocating for strong northern infrastructure, like increased investments in housing and electricity. 

He said if elected, he’d “definitely” push for a Northern riding if elected and oppose Bill-96, Quebec’s language law that many Indigenous groups oppose - especially English- and Inuktitut-speaking Inuit. 

“It was the NDP caucus that actually put under [Ed] Broadbent that actually pushed for inclusion of Indigenous people in the Constitution to begin with,” said Higashihara. 

In the 1980s, NDP MP Ed Broadbent refused to sign on to Pierre Trudeau’s constitution reforms unless Indigenous rights were included. This helped lead to the inclusion of Section 35, which recognizes Indigenous treaty rights and inherent rights.

Higashihara would also look to fund more Indigenous policing in Nunavik. In November 2024, two Inuit twins were shot - and one of them died - at the hands of Nunavik police. Between Aug. 29 and Sept. 25, 2024, nine First Nations people died after coming in contact with police forces in Canada. 

“There's been a killing of Indigenous people and youth because the RCMP has been sort of cracking down. And it's been racially charged because a lot of the RCMP officers are not culturally equipped to handle issues within the community,” says Higashihara. 

Conservative candidate Steve Corriveau declined La Converse’s interview request. While the Conservative Party is the only party that does not mention the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Corriveau stressed the importance of prioritizing reconciliation and responding to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action. In an interview with Nunatsiaq News, Corriveau said he’s willing to push for a northern riding as well for the next electoral redesign in 2033.

While he has not visited Nunavik, he has pledged to visit every community this summer if elected and defend Inuit and Cree culture. 

Despite other parties’ promises, Gull-Masty hopes that the Indigenous vote will help secure her victory in the riding. 

“I know that previously my community had another Cree candidate who ran federally,” she says, referring to previous NDP MP Romeo Saganash, who won the riding in 2011 and 2015. “The [voter] turnout was huge. We took the riding. We are a silent, sleeping giant of voters in Eeyou-Istchee and Nunavik. If we can get the right kind of messaging out, connecting with people, showing people that there's somebody there that wants to represent your interests, your needs, I believe that they'll come out [to vote]. And I think I have a strong support base. I'm really hoping that everybody gets to the polls on election day.”

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