Qujannamiik Iksivautaq.
Thank you, Madam Chair and committee members, for the invitation to appear before you as part of the study on the inclusion of indigenous languages on election ballots.
I am honoured to share with you some of the work that my office does in promoting and advancing Inuktut in Nunavut’s democracy, not only as an obligation under the Nunavut Elections Act, but simply because Nunavummiut rely on us for information in their own languages.
An important tool in the voting process are the ballots upon which we express our democratic choice. Our ballots include candidates' names in any of Nunavut’s official languages, French, English and Inuktut, which we've heard from some of the previous speakers include Inuktitut, which is written in syllabics, and Inuinnaqtun, which is written in roman orthography, the common alphabet that we use in English and French.
Inuktut names are personal and deeply rooted in Inuit customs and culture. We rely on candidates for the spelling and transliteration of their names. These are provided to our office during the declaration period and are included on the ballot.
Fortunately, my office does have the capacity in-house to ensure that each name written in Inuktitut syllabics accurately depicts the candidate’s choice. This capacity is also necessary to decipher the write-in ballots, to ensure that the voter’s choice—written in any official language, including syllabics—is accurately recorded. I have provided the committee with a few examples that depict our multi-language ballots.
Koana. I welcome any questions you have.