PROC Committee Report

Pursuant to its mandate under Standing Order 108(3)(a)(vi), and section 18.1 of the Canada Elections Act (CEA), the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (the Committee) has considered the proposal of the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada (CEO) to test the inclusion of Inuit languages (i.e., Inuktitut and/or Inuinnaqtun) on regular ballots in the electoral district of Nunavut.

Section 18.1 of the CEA authorizes the CEO to carry out studies on voting, including alternative voting means. With the approval from both the Committee and the Senate committee that normally considers electoral matters, the CEO may devise and test a study on voting in a general or by-election.

In a letter dated 12 September 2024, the CEO asked the Committee for its approval for a pilot project to include Inuit languages on federal election ballots in the electoral district of Nunavut. The project is aligned with a recommendation of the Committee from the June 2022 report entitled Inclusion of Indigenous Languages on Federal Election Ballots.

On 26 September 2024, the CEO and Karine Morin, Senior Director, Integrity, Regulatory Policy and Parliamentary Affairs, Elections Canada, appeared before the Committee to provide information on the pilot project and respond to questions from committee members.

Based on the evidence and materials submitted to it, the Committee is satisfied that the proposal of the CEO is worth pursuing. The Committee is of the opinion that this proposal may allow a greater number of electors in Nunavut to exercise their constitutional right to vote, while offering sufficient guarantees to preserve the integrity of the vote.

Therefore, the Committee recommends that the CEO be authorized to proceed with the pilot project that would implement temporary variations to the CEA for the duration of the project in the electoral district of Nunavut.

The temporary variations to the CEA include:

• allowing prospective candidates in the electoral district of Nunavut to enter their name on their nomination paper in Inuktitut and/or Inuinnaqtun, in addition to their name or any other name by which they are commonly known (section 66(1)(a) of the CEA);

• requiring candidates who enter their name on their nomination paper in Inuktitut and/or Inuinnaqtun to make and sign a solemn declaration stating that they are known by the name they have entered in an Inuit language or that this name is a translation or transliteration of their name (section 66(1) of the CEA);

• extending the prohibition against candidates providing names that include any title, degree or other prefix or suffix, to apply to candidate names in Inuktitut and/or Inuinnaqtun (section 66(2) of the CEA);

• specifying that the candidate names that must appear on regular ballots in the electoral district of Nunavut may include names in an Inuit language (section 71.1 of the CEA);

• specifying that all names of a candidate entered on their nomination paper, including those in an Inuit language, will appear on regular ballots (section 117(1) of the CEA);

• adjusting the regular ballot image in Schedule 1, Form 3 of the CEA to include text in Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun;

• allowing electors in the electoral district of Nunavut to write the given name and surname of the candidate they wish to vote for (and the candidate’s political affiliation, if applicable) on special ballots in the alphabet (Latin or syllabic) and language (English, French, Inuktitut or Inuinnaqtun) of their choice (sections 213(3), 227(3) and 258(2) of the CEA);

• adjusting the image of the special ballot in Schedule 1, Form 4 of the CEA so that electors in the electoral district of Nunavut can vote for the candidate of their choice in an Inuit language;

• allowing registered political parties that so desire to add an Inuktitut and/or Inuinnaqtun name for their party alongside their current English and/or French short-form name (or abbreviation) in the registry (section 385(2)(b) of the CEA);

• allowing registered political parties that so desire to add a transliteration of their Inuktitut and/or Inuinnaqtun name alongside their current English and/or French short-form name (or abbreviation) in the registry by submitting an online form with the party leader’s electronic signature, rather than going through the current name change process requiring a written report certified by the party leader and a copy of the resolution of the party to make the change (section 405 of the CEA);

• adding the Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun translations to the word “independent” in English and “indépendant(e)” in French (sections 2, 66(1)(a)(v), 66(1)(a)(vi), 117(3), 117(5), and Form 3 of Schedule 1 of the CEA); and

• providing the CEO with the power to make any variations deemed necessary to the provisions of the CEA in the event of particular circumstance, in addition to the variations proposed above, for the sole purpose of implementing the pilot project.

Beyond its recommendation that the CEO be authorized to test the inclusion of Inuit languages on regular ballots in the electoral district of Nunavut, the Committee also wishes to call the CEO’s attention to Recommendation 3 from its Twelfth Report entitled, The Inclusion of Indigenous Languages on Federal Election Ballots: A Step towards Reconciliation. That recommendation reads:

That Elections Canada print and post facsimiles of the official ballot in Indigenous languages to serve as a guide for electors at the polling station and/or voting booth, where appropriate, as determined by the Indigenous communities advisory group.

The Committee is of the view that the CEO may wish to consider implementing Recommendation 3 as part of its planned pilot project or during a comparable future pilot project.