Elia Lauzon does not trust the government or the electoral system. Even so, he appeared on Monday to the voting station in Puirnituq, which., To say his opinion.
“I know that it is the smallest right that I have offered and I have fought for me for other indigenous activists in the course of decades,” said Lauzon.
Lauzon, who usually has its headquarters in Kuujjuaq, was motivated to vote when he saw an indigenous candidate, a woman believes, running in his driving of Abitibi-James-Nunavik-Eeou. The driving has been made by the Québécois block for two terms now.
But when Lauzon went to the polls, they told him that it was closing around 2:30 pm, seven hours before it was supposed, as indicated in the Canada Elections Law for Districts in the Eastern Time Zone.
“I was waiting for that ability, but now you know what, I’m just angry,” he said.
In addition to Puirnituq, CBC has listened to residents in four other Nunavik villages who say that the voting cabins closed early in their communities.
In a statement, the elections, Canada, said the climatic problems were affecting flights for workers.
“The officer who returned tried to implement several different strategies to provide voting services to communities,” he said in a statement.
“In several cases, it was not possible to recruit local teams. In other cases, the hard climatic conditions have prevented access to communities.”
Canada’s elections did not confirm how many villages were affected, or if the voting cabins closed.
‘It’s just a terrible disaster’
In Saluit, the recreation coordinator, Mary Papigatukuk, said the residents only had an hour and 15 minutes to vote before the workers packed and left at 2:30 pm
He was in the village office all the time and saw less than 70 people vote during that short window. (In the federal census of 2021, the population of Saluit was around 1,600).
For her, this is another example of Inuit used by politicians and government officials who claim that they are involved with indigenous peoples.
“We, like Inuit, have had no Inuit that we use for the show, but when it’s time for us to get involved, we are not involved,” he said.
In Ivujivik, Mayor Adamie Kalingo said that Canada’s election staff did not even establish a station in her community before leaving.
I waited for them during the weekend, but began to worry when they had not yet arrived in mid -morning.
Finally they did it around noon, but after a stop in the bathroom, they took off again.
“We have no official voting document or information on how to make these elections in particular,” he said.
“I have been receiving calls from teachers and social workers and local people who want to vote, but I have no choice but to tell them that we do not know what is happening, and it is a terrible disaster.”
Leaving Inuit outside – again
Papigatuk is also frustrated because Canada’s elections did not employ anyone to help with the voting stations, which is something that says he witnessed in the past.
The lack of information in Inuktitut of all political parties also hurts.
“There has never been anyone who translates these campaigns for our elders, or children, who only know Inuktitut, or people who have difficulty understanding what is happening.”
Electoral participation in indigenous communities has historically been a problem.
In the federal elections of 2021, of more than 38,000 voters registered in indigenous communities in Quebec, less than 9,000 voted, according to Elections Canada.
That voter participation rate of 23 percent was delayed behind the average national rate for voters in indigenous communities, which were 44 percent.
Elia Lauzon de Kuujjuaq recognizes the logistics challenges of the vote in the north, but said she does not believe it is acceptable in 2025.
“If you are not going to send people to my region, make it possible to vote online,” he said.
Kayla Meeko, the president of the Board of Directors of the Quaqtaq nursery, was exercising when they would let the staff go to have their legal vote to vote.
When the voice ran that the voting station was closing at 2.30 pm, she and others rushed to the survey cabin, but she arrived too late.
“I could hear that his plane started in the background,” he said. “Today I lost my legal right to vote.
“As an Inuk woman, having the right to vote is very, very important. Not long ago, women were not allowed to vote, and as a indigenous person in Canada, how our prime minister treats us a lot on our votes.”
