Procedure and House Affairs Committee on April 5th, 2022

[Dustin Fredlund]

Thank you for the question, Ms. Idlout.

Absolutely, the legislative assembly, where my budget comes from, has always been very generous when it comes to ensuring that all of our information is in all four languages. It's never a question of being underfunded for that.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

[Member spoke in Inuktitut, interpreted as follows:]

I want to ask this of everyone because I think everyone understands it, especially those of us with an indigenous background.

As indigenous people, we are growing in population and numbers. I am sure there will be fundamental issues that we'll be facing in the future.

Are you prepared for the increase in population, especially in the NWT because you have 11 different languages? Are you prepared to accommodate the growth of populations? What are you doing to meet the needs that you will face with the increasing populations?

[Stephen Dunbar]

One of the actions we'll be taking, especially in regard to languages in some of the electoral districts where they are predominant, is working with the regional indigenous governments to ensure that the translations we are producing.... As you said earlier, you can't separate culture and language. We want to ensure that a lot of the materials we produce are actually reflective of the culture and the language being spoken in a community. Take some of the translations of the word “vote”, for instance. It's a literal translation of the letter “x” in some of the North Slavey dialects. We want to ensure that we are working with the indigenous governments to ensure that we have captured not just the literal translation, but the spirit of the word as well.

[Dustin Fredlund]

It's always important. Our population is increasing. Even though in this last general election we saw a slight decrease in voting, we can attribute that to COVID-19.

In preparations, my office always ensures that our Inuktitut language and Inuinnaqtun language are strong. Four or five of my staff are Inuktitut first language speakers, and we bring in a French-language specialist who helps us out during the election periods. Our office has native speakers of French and Inuktitut. Of course, Inuinnaqtun is a bit more difficult. We live in Rankin. This is not Inuinnaqtun central, but we have good connections with people in the western Arctic to help us out with that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

That's excellent. Thank you.

We are going to proceed with the second round of questions for this panel, and then we'll have Ms. Idlout for the next panel and just do the first round with Ms. Idlout.

Mr. Scheer, it's five minutes to you.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Thanks very much.

I just have a quick question for Ms. Mack. I believe you were listing some of the languages that you offer services in or produce materials in. I believe I heard you mention Tagalog as well. Is that correct?

[Samantha Mack]

Yes, that's correct.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Obviously, a lot of the discussion flows from some of the things we've heard about reconciliation and acknowledging the unique role the government has with respect to indigenous languages. Of course, Tagalog would, as far as I understand, not fall into that type of category, but is maybe more the offering of services to people who require it because it's their language. Is that the spirit of why that language would be included in the services you offer?

[Samantha Mack]

The requirement for Tagalog is a federal requirement. With that, both the spirit of the inclusion of the language and the simple legal requirement means that it is a necessity in various districts of the state. Therefore, in order to make sure that we have as many people involved in the voting process as possible, we do try to produce materials in as many languages as we can find translators for.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

You mentioned it's a federal requirement. Is that specific to Tagalog, or is there a requirement that once a language reaches a certain threshold in terms of percentages of the overall population, then that must be included? What would the regulation be that would make that a requirement?

[Samantha Mack]

The federal requirement concerns the Voting Rights Act, section 203. It says that, if 5% of the voting population speaks a particular language and speaks English less than very well, that language becomes triggered for requirements for the election process.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

That is interesting. I appreciate that clarification because that does open up a whole other rationale or motivation in the inclusion of different languages. If the goal is for federal governments, departments and services to be relevant, or at least have an impact on people's lives, then they need to facilitate that understanding. It is a little bit of a different philosophical approach than some of the reconciliation ideas, but they all lead to the end result, with the difference being that, in your system, this is much more expansive. That would really open up the possibility for literally almost any language.

[Samantha Mack]

It certainly would.

In regard to the spirit of reconciliation, as you've been discussing, the federal requirement for indigenous languages lists language groups. We have a federal requirement for Yupik instead of the various languages within Yupik. Our role as the [Inaudible—Editor] in reconciliation is to then to figure out which specific Yupik languages will be produced.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Indigenous languages then have their own set of criteria, I suppose, that are more unique than just any language that might attain the 5% rule?

[Samantha Mack]

I think we can definitely say that.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

I only have one other question, and I'll open this to any of the panellists who would like to respond to it. We're looking at the inclusion of indigenous languages on the ballot itself. A number of you have talked about the number of languages that are used in your jurisdictions. I was wondering if anybody would like to comment on the dynamic of providing services or support at the polling locations, beyond just the ballots.

In other words, I've scrutineered before at different levels of elections, so I have often had people who were maybe in the wrong polling location, who may not have the right ID or who have questions about some of the aspects of the voting process. Is it a requirement in any of your areas to provide that ability? In our federal system, we have deputy returning officers, the DROs, who oversee the polling locations and answer questions.

Is there a need, requirement or rule for the ability to have somebody who could speak to people who may only use that one indigenous language? In addition to having it on the ballot, is there any requirement for the staff operating the polling locations to be able to offer clarification, instructions or support in indigenous languages as well?

[Stephen Dunbar]

There is no requirement under our legislation, but our returning officers and deputy returning officers would be expected to make efforts to ensure that if there is a language being spoken in that community, we'd have interpretation available. Electors are also allowed to be assisted by a family member or friend who can help interpret for them.

[Dustin Fredlund]

Yes, we are legally required to have poll workers who speak the language of the community. That's where it says so. It doesn't say, “French,” “Inuktitut” or “Inuktut”; it just says that whatever languages the communities speak, our poll workers must speak that as well.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Thank you for that great exchange.

Mrs. Romanado, the next five minutes go to you.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Through you, I'd like to welcome the witnesses here today. I'm especially excited to hear from our colleagues from Elections Nunavut and Elections Northwest Territories, and, of course, Ms. Mack from the Alaska Division of Elections.

My first question is to Mr. Fredlund.

We heard from Ms. Aariak, the language commissioner of Nunavut, at our last meeting. I'd like to know if you've had any meetings with our Chief Electoral Officer for Elections Canada, Mr. Perrault.

[Dustin Fredlund]

The chief electoral officers from across Canada meet as a group at least once a year, so yes, I've met with Mr. Perrault numerous times.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

The reason I'm asking this is we had heard that there was some difficulty with Elections Canada having, for instance, a poster that says, “vote here,” in the appropriate language, or having documentation about wearing masks at the polls in the appropriate language. I'm hearing from you that at the municipal elections, you had signs in four languages and the Elections Canada signs were merely in two. The translations already exist.

I wanted to know if there was any opportunity to share information, so that there's not a duplication of efforts, but that it's available to Elections Canada, so that they don't have to reinvent the wheel and reprint.

[Dustin Fredlund]

Thank you for the question on efficiency and whether sharing between the federal agencies and territorial agencies always works out 100%.

Absolutely, this is something that we're working on. We're always in discussions. No one's ever going to say no to sharing our Inuktitut and our translated works.

Keep in mind that our rules are different. Elections Canada rules are different from our rules. It's not just a blueprint. It's a bit more than that.

Unfortunately—or fortunately—the last two federal elections coincided with two of our general elections. Both of our offices are extremely busy and we don't really have much time to interact and ask each other how it's going. That's kind of where it stands.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Thank you.

Another point in that regard is that you mentioned your election is 35 days long, similar to a minimum of 36 days for a federal election. It's comparable. However, your nominations need to be in between days one and five, whereas in the federal election, it's up to 21 days prior to an election. It seems there's a discrepancy in Nunavut with the requirement for nomination forms to be in, compared to the federal election. Perhaps that could be something that we look at with the Chief Electoral Officer, to see if he requires additional time to get those names of the candidates translated, and so on and so forth. Maybe that's something we need to look into.

My next question is for Mr. Dunbar.

You also mentioned—through you, Madam Chair—that the “vote here” signs for a polling place were in appropriate languages in the specific districts, and that posters about what kind of ID is required were already translated. My question is similar to the one I posed to Mr. Fredlund.

Is there an opportunity for collaboration between the federal government—the CEO of Elections Canada—and you, to make sure that there are some synergies in translation?

[Stephen Dunbar]

The materials are not translated yet. That is something that we are in the process of starting right now. Certainly, we would welcome any opportunities to collaborate with our colleagues at Elections Canada.