Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to speak with the committee this morning about Elections Canada's pilot project to include the Inuit language on federal election ballots in the electoral district of Nunavut.
I am accompanied by Karine Morin, who is responsible for the project at Elections Canada.
As it involves variations to several rules prescribed by the Canada Elections Act, this pilot requires approval under section 18.1 of the act, which provides for the Chief Electoral Officer to devise and test alternative voting processes with the prior approval of the committees of the House and Senate that normally consider electoral matters. I am therefore seeking approval from the committee today.
There are a few unique realities in Nunavut that support this pilot project. First, Inuktut is recognized as one of the official languages across the territory, which also constitutes one electoral district. Most of its population are Inuit, at 84% or a little more, and speak Inuktut as their mother tongue.
If approved by the committee, this project would help identify improvements to make the electoral process more inclusive and accessible to Inuktut speakers, while also identifying operational and legislative issues that would need to be addressed in order to implement this as a permanent service offering.
In addition, this pilot would complement Elections Canada's efforts to gradually offer more communication products in Inuktut in the electoral district of Nunavut. Committee members will recall that during the 2021 general election, new communication products included a ballot facsimile and a poster-sized version of the ballot that were provided in Inuktut at polling places.
When I appeared before this committee in March 2022 during its study of the inclusion of indigenous languages on federal election ballots, I provided different options for the committee's consideration for the inclusion of indigenous languages on federal ballots and explained some of the challenges for each.
In its report, the committee recommended that Elections Canada undertake a pilot project to include Inuktut on federal election ballots in the electoral district of Nunavut. Following your report, my office began developing a proposal for this pilot, informed by discussions with several Inuit representatives and organizations and aligned with the experience of Elections Nunavut. I would like to underline today that all those consulted have welcomed the initiative.
I would like to remind members that this is a pilot initiative that is unique to the electoral district of Nunavut. It is a new and exploratory initiative that forms part of Elections Canada's efforts to pursue gradual approaches to better reflect the linguistic reality of electors in Nunavut.
In brief, the pilot would allow candidates and political parties running in Nunavut to submit their names in Inuktut, whether in Inuktitut using syllabic symbols or in Inuinnaqtun using the Latin alphabet, as well as in English and in French, and to have those names appear on the regular ballot. This would also allow electors in Nunavut to write the name of a candidate in Inuktut on a special ballot when voting by mail or at the local Elections Canada office when using write-in ballots.
Candidates and political parties would be invited to provide their names in Inuktut. Elections Canada would not translate or transliterate candidate or party names and would not require identification documents to verify candidate names in Inuktut. This is the same approach currently used by Elections Nunavut.
As we plan for the implementation of this pilot, there are a number of challenges and limitations that we are aware of. One of those challenges is ensuring quality control of the regular ballot in Inuktut, within the very short time frame between the close of nominations and the printing and shipping of the ballots so that they arrive in time for advance voting in the different communities in Nunavut. We have retained the services of readers of Inuktut to assist us with this task.
Another challenge arises from the fact that we are not planning any IT system changes as part of the pilot. This means that while Inuktut names will be reflected on the ballots, it will not be possible to fully incorporate Inuktut into all electoral information products, such as election results on our website on election night.
To ensure the integrity of the counting process for special or write-in ballots, the pilot will also rely on hiring readers of Inuktut at the local Elections Canada office in Iqaluit and at the counting facility here in Ottawa. Election workers who read Inuktut would assist in recording the intentions of voters who used Inuktut when filling out special ballots. It's important to be aware that Inuktitut is not a fixed language and that different symbols can be used to express a similar sound, so the name may vary. We need people who read the language, to be able to make sure that they are not unduly rejected if they're written in a different manner. Political parties would also be invited to send observers who can read Inuktut to maintain the integrity of the counting process during the pilot.
With respect to next steps, I have also written to the Senate committee and hope to meet with them later this fall. If we receive approval for the pilot project from both committees, we will invite the political parties to submit their proposed party names in Inuktut as part of our first implementation phase.
I plan to write to both committees after the pilot to report on operational and legislative issues that would need to be considered should Parliament wish to make this a permanent service offering, as I think is certainly the objective.
Before I conclude, I will point out to members that I have provided a table of the variations to the Canada Elections Act. There are not many, but they are required to carry out the pilot project. If it's approved, I hope they will be included in the committee's report.
I appreciate the committee's invitation and interest in this project. I would be pleased to answer your questions.