Electoral Reform committee  Thank you. I just want to add to what has been said earlier. The issue of proportional representation is a problem unless there's a special dispensation. You have to go back to the 1970s. We were part of the Northwest Territories until 1999, but we were always at the losing end in the eastern part of Northwest Territories as Innu, as one group of people—one group—because there were fewer people in the eastern Arctic than there were in the western part of the Northwest Territories.

Electoral Reform committee  First of all, I think we're a very progressive territory. We've already had a woman premier, our current president of land claims for Nunavut is a woman, and our mayor is a woman, so I think we have a very progressive territory. On the issue of proportional representation, my main concern would be that we don't get left out of the process because of our small population base.

Electoral Reform committee  Thank you. When you're talking about proportional representation, my fear would be that we don't have the population. In our case it would have to be a special dispensation of the electoral system to take us into account, because we don't have the population base but we have the area.

Electoral Reform committee  When we're teenagers, we know everything, right?

Electoral Reform committee  They're already in high school anyway, and that would be, I'm sure, part of their curriculum. I don't think there's any problem with having 16 as a voting age.

Electoral Reform committee  Qujannamiik. Thank you. Just carrying on from what Mr. Okalik was saying, when you have a consensus government and you have a legislative assembly of 22 members, that's like having 22 parties. There really is not much accountability, so there really is not much of a chance. Even if you're operating in a minority, as cabinet does, because you have a cabinet of eight, including the premier, the rest of the members don't really have the cohesiveness to throw the bums out, because there is no party system.

Electoral Reform committee  Do I start over?

Electoral Reform committee  Qujannamiik. Thank you. . As I said earlier, as I was walking in there was nothing written in Inuktituk to tell me where I was supposed to go. If I didn’t speak English or French, I would not know where to go because there are no directions in Inuktituk. You are in Nunavut, and there are three official languages in Nunavut—English, French, and Inuktituk.

Electoral Reform committee  I speak to you today as a former hamlet councillor in a community, as a mayor, a former member of the legislative assembly, a territorial minister, a former candidate for federal office, and a former member of Parliament. When it comes to our electoral system, our concerns are twofold: promoting participation and supporting candidates and voters, and ensuring our interests are properly represented and promoted in Ottawa.

Electoral Reform committee  Qujannamiik. There was nothing written in Inuktituk to tell me where I was supposed to go. There were no directions as to where we were to go to. Thank you for coming to Nunavut. I am only hearing myself. Sorry, there are technical problems.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  [Witness speaks in Inuktitut] I apologize, but when you give us a limit of three minutes, it reminds me of the people who came up for one day, and they were prepared to put a page in the editorial section. If they stayed a week, they were prepared to write a book, as if they knew everything.