One last debate for electoral boundaries
Tu Nedhe riding to be cut, Lutsel K'e and Fort Resolution to be grouped with Yellowknives
Laura Busch
Northern News Services
Published Monday, March 17, 2014
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
It's almost certain now that 19 seats will be up for grabs during the next territorial election for the 18th legislative assembly.
Under the proposed legislation Tu Nedhe, the riding encompassing Lusel K'e and Fort Resolution, will cease to exist. Instead, the communities will be included in a new riding with Ndilo and Dettah.
These changes were debated one last time in the legislative assembly last Wednesday in Committee of the Whole. This was the last chance for MLAs to make changes to Bill 18, An Act to Amend the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act, before the third and final reading.
Tu Nedhe MLA Tom Beaulieu made one last attempt to change the minds of his fellow MLAs, calling on them to add two more seats instead of eliminating his.
He argued Bill 18 effectively prevents an entire First Nation - the Chipewyan people - from having an elected member in the legislative assembly.
"Why in the world would we want to eliminate a language from the legislative assembly?" he asked. "That's what 19 seats does. Maybe not the next election but eventually we will eliminate the Chipewyan language from this legislative assembly."
Monfwi MLA Jackson Lafferty joined the fight to increase the number of seats to 21 by introducing a motion that would leave Tu Nedhe and the Yellowknives Dene communities as they are, and create one additional seat in both the Tlicho region and Yellowknife.
"Since I've been elected to this assembly back in 2005, this is the second go around for the NWT Electoral Boundary Commission process," he said. "The last one was in the 15th assembly.
"In 2005, our Tlicho population was well beyond the 25 percent margin, hovering over 29 per cent. At that time I also argued for an additional seat for the Monfwi riding. Today there is even more reason for this additional seat. The numbers speak for themselves."
Before the vote on Lafferty's amendment, Beaulieu returned to his arguments from last November, when electoral boundaries was the subject of another lively debate in the legislature. He said that an MLA who does not speak Chipewyan would not be able to effectively represent the people, and especially the elders, of his communities.
Several MLAs said that, for them, the debate on the number of seats was concluded in November, and there was no reason to re-open the issue.
"I, along with Mr. Blake and Mr. Moses, we represent communities that have a fairly large Gwich'in/Inuvialuit population," said Inuvik Twin Lakes MLA Robert C. McLeod. "Neither one of us speaks either of the languages, but we manage to work with them well, thus we get elected."
When it came time to vote, the motion to create 21 electoral districts was defeated with a vote of six to 11.
In favour of 21 seats were Lafferty, Beaulieu, Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny, Frame Lake MLA Wendy Bisaro, Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley and Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya.
Against were Hay River North MLA Robert Bouchard, Deh Cho MLA Michael Nadli, Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins, Inuvik Boot Lake MLA Alfred Moses, Nahendeh MLA Kevin Menicoche, Mackenzie Delta MLA Frederick Blake Jr., as well as cabinet ministers David Ramsay, Glen Abernethy, Michael Miltenberger, Robert C. McLeod, and Premier Bob McLeod.
Hay River South MLA Jane Groenewegen did not cast a vote as she was chairing Committee of the Whole at the time.
The bill is scheduled to receive third reading on May 28, where it will either pass or fail but cannot be changed.
The spring sitting concluded last Thursday. MLAs are scheduled to reconvene the fifth session of the 17th assembly on Wednesday, May 28.
