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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Northern voters could see major changes in electoral boundaries before the next territorial election, if the legislative assembly approves one of three options recently released by the Northwest Territories Electoral Boundaries Commission.

On Monday, the commission, which was tasked last fall to deliberate on how electoral boundaries should be re-drawn in the NWT, released an interim report outlining three options for redefining electoral districts. As was requested of them by the legislative assembly, commissioners looked at options for where these boundaries would fall if there were 18, 19 or 21 electoral districts in the territory.

Currently, there are 19 electoral districts in the NWT, only seven of which are in Yellowknife even though Yellowknifers make up roughly 47 per cent of the NWT's population, according to 2012 population estimates by Statistics Canada and the NWT Bureau of Statistics.

When debating what changes should be made to current electoral boundaries, one of the considerations before the commission is the number of voters in a given riding and whether some constituents were being under-represented in the legislative assembly, said commission secretary David Brock.

"Even though there is a population count that electoral districts are primarily based upon, we have to remember it is humans living in those communities and we want to take into account those human interests," said Brock at a news conference called on Monday to discuss the interim report.

The factors that affect where electoral boundaries are drawn include language, historical relationships and the ease of transportation, he said.

Whether constituents are over or under-represented in government is determined by what is called a variance percentage - comparing the number of constituents in a riding with the mean population for the number of ridings in the territory, said Brock. As dictated by the Supreme Court of Canada, the variance percentage of any riding should be no more or less than 25 per cent.

Under the current electoral boundaries, the Weledeh district, with its population of 3,254, is 42.6 per cent over the territorial mean average of 2,282 people per electoral district. The ridings of Great Slave, Kam Lake and Weledeh are also over the recommended 25 per cent variance.

18 electoral districts

Similar to the current reality, Yellowknife residents would be divided between seven electoral districts, though the boundaries would be re-jigged to distribute constituent population more evenly.

Weledeh would remain the most populous riding in the territory with 3,108 constituents. The boundary between Weledeh and Yellowknife Centre would be moved to halfway between 44 and 45 Street on the west side of Franklin Avenue, while on the east side of Franklin, the boundary will remain at 47 Street.

Under this scenario, the only riding in Yellowknife that would remain unchanged is Kam Lake, while all other districts will see minor changes to their boundary lines.

19 electoral districts

Although there are currently 19 electoral district in the territory, the NWT Electoral Boundary Commission recommends that if the GNWT would like to maintain this number, there should be an eighth district added in Yellowknife and the sparsely populated riding of Tu Nedhe should be eliminated.

Under this scenario, the overpopulation problem in Weledeh would be alleviated, leaving the riding with a population of 2,490 constituents.

The new Yellowknife riding, currently called NWT 11, would have a population of 2,451 constituents and would amalgamate portions of the current Range Lake, Yellowknife Centre, Weledeh and Frame Lake ridings. This riding would include residents living around Frame Lake, Jackfish Lake and Niven Lake. Its boundaries would stretch from Old Airport Drive in the southwest, to Franklin Avenue in the southeast, to Back Bay in the northeast and Highway 3 and the Ingraham Trail to the north.

Kam Lake would become the most populous riding in the territory, with an estimated 2,776 constituents.

21 electoral districts

In its recommendations for how to divide the territory into 21 electoral districts, the NWT Electoral Boundary Commission outlines nine electoral districts in Yellowknife. One of the two new electoral districts, currently named NWT 11, would encompass the Niven Lake subdivision and residences around Frame Lake.

The second new electoral district, NWT 12, would include the residential neighbourhood on the southwest side of Old Airport Road, along with Northland Trailer Park and Woolgar Avenue. Currently, most of the area that would be included in NWT 12 is part of the Frame Lake riding, which would be reduced from its current population of 2,853 people down to 2,074 constituents.

Also, Ndilo and Dettah would be removed from the Weledeh riding to become part of the current Tu Nedhe riding, which includes Lutsel K'e and Fort Resolution.

All other Yellowknife ridings would have their boundaries rearranged to achieve a more equal population balance, and no Yellowknife riding would be over the recommended 25 per cent population variance.

Public consultations underway

Now that the commission has released its interim report suggesting where new electoral boundaries should be drawn, it is taking these options to the people in the form of public hearings where the three commissioners, Justice Shannon Smallwood, Charles Furlong and Ian McCrea will listen to public opinions.

Yellowknife's first public meeting is scheduled for next Monday, Feb. 11. A confirmed time and location for these meetings will be available on the NWT Boundaries Commission website, said Brock.

Since electoral districts should not be created based on numbers alone, the public hearings are important opportunities to bring up cultural considerations that could affect residents, he said.

The commission has a deadline of May 22 to present its final recommendations to Speaker of the House Jackie Jacobson. He will in turn bring the matter to the legislative assembly, which will have the final say on whether any changes will be made to the current electoral districts.

In 2006, a similar process ended with the commission's recommendations being voted down in the legislature.

While changing electoral districts is always political, the commission is in charge of making recommendations to avoid obvious conflicts of interest faced by politicians, said Brock.

"The reason why we have electoral commissions in Canada, and have for well over 15 years, is to remove political interests from the actual drawing of boundaries," he said. "In the Northwest Territories and across Canada, boundaries commissions are there to draw boundaries and avoid that process of gerrymandering you find in the United States."

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