Christine Kay
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Nov 11/02) - Nunavut is the first jurisdiction in Canada to allow federal prisoners the right to vote in a territorial election.

As the territory's legislative assembly began third reading of the Elections Act on Oct. 31, Canadian Supreme Court judges ruled 5-4 that denying federal inmates the right to vote was unconstitutional.

The assembly's legal counsel Sue Cooper said she was expecting the ruling. This made it easy for the assembly to incorporate it into the newly minted Elections Act on short notice.

"We were aware this matter was pending before the Supreme Court of Canada and had been monitoring its progress, as we knew that the outcome of the court matter might require changes to the bill," said Cooper.

The amendment made Nunavut the nation's forerunner in abiding by the Supreme Court's ruling.

"All the other jurisdictions are going to have to follow suit. They'll have to look at our legislation to put it in theirs," said Iqaluit Centre MLA Hunter Tootoo.

The assembly has worked on establishing a new elections act since Nunavut's first territorial election in 1999.

"It has gone through a long process. There were 10 of the 19 members of the legislative assembly who went through the development of it," said the territory's chief electoral officer, Sandy Kusugak.

"Curriculum will be developed to interest students on all aspects of elections," said Kusugak.

It also encourages a better voters' registration system. Election officials will not depend solely on going door-to-door. They will tap into other resources such as vital statistics and will also set up information booths at places like the Northern stores.

The length of the campaigning period has also changed. It has been shortened from 45 days to 35 days.

An integrity commissioner will be appointed to monitor future election campaigns.