NUNAVUT
The Green Party's candidate in Nunavut insists he's not like any of the others seeking election.

Nunavut's Green Party candidate Spencer Rocchi said "I'm not Inuit, I don't speak Inuktitut, and I'm not really from Nunavut. But it's not about me. It's about the parties that are running." - photo courtesy of Spencer Rocchi

"The politicians for the mainstream parties in Nunavut, all three of them are professional politicians," said Spencer Rocchi, who is running in the Oct. 19 federal election.

"Those parties are getting the people they think are right for the job who will appeal to the most voters. The problem is that all three major parties vehemently support drilling. They all want to drill for oil," Rocchi said.

He says the clock is ticking and there is an urgent need to protect the environment. But what that means exactly depends on perspective.

Nunavut's voter turnout in the 2011 election was the lowest in the nation at 39.4 per cent, down 2.6 per cent from 2008. Considering the many turning points in Nunavut's near future - most having to do with industry of one kind or another - and considering the heavy hand of the federal government in industry-related decisions, those are chilling statistics.

Rocchi proposes, as each candidate has, that his party has the right policies. He knows Nunavummiut question his candidacy in the federal election in particular and the Green Party generally.

"I'm not Inuit, I don't speak Inuktitut, and I'm not really from Nunavut. But it's not about me. It's about the parties that are running," he said.

Rocchi was living in Nunavut when he asked Green Party organizers how he could support them in the territory.

"They mentioned that they didn't actually have a candidate to step forward and run for them," he said, explaining he's running as a paper candidate, which is a term given to a candidate who stands for a political party in an electoral district where the party in question enjoys only low levels of support.

"I've been a Green supporter for a number of years and was living in Nunavut for the past three years on term contracts for teaching," said Rocchi, adding he'd taught in Kugluktuk, Naujaat and Arctic Bay.

"Living in the western, central and eastern Arctic did give me an understanding for a lot of the issues in Nunavut."

The environment is the crux of the Green Party and Rocchi's position. Rocchi says he's spoken to leaders in Nunavut, such as Clyde River Mayor Jerry Natanine, Niore Iqalukjuak also of Clyde River, and former Iqaluit mayor Madeline Redfern.

"It's like instant rejection for Green Party," Rocchi said. "Some people I've spoken to think we're related to Greenpeace. We're not. It's been a bit rough. Not hostile, but I'm not getting a warm response. I don't think the Green Party is being understood and I'm really hoping that changes."

Natanine did not respond to a request for an interview and Iqalukjuak declined to comment.

But Redfern has explored the Green Party's policies extensively.

"These are very problematic policies with respect to the North, to indigenous people. In particular, there is the anti-commercial sealing policy," she said.

Redfern says she did have an exchange with Rocchi, as well as exchanges with party Leader Elizabeth May regarding the policy. Redfern takes issue with the fact that the Green Party maintains the Inuit are entitled to subsistence hunting but not hunting for commercial purposes.

"The fact is the Inuit do have a commercial seal hunt. We sell our pelts to the government, there's a sealing program. We make products with the skins," she said.

Inuit rights under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement are constitutionally protected, she adds, and so is the full socio-economic aspect of those rights.

"So it's not just 'for subsistence.' The definition of subsistence for most people is the prevention of poverty or starvation. We're entitled to an economy. While Spencer has said the Green Party is not Greenpeace, the fact is many of their policies are similar. In fact, most of the Green Party policies come from the green movement. Inuit have lived through decades of campaigns that have attacked our livelihood that has directly resulted in increased levels of poverty, food insecurity amongst our people," Redfern said.

"That (sealing) policy alone illustrates that the Green Party is not evidence-based decision-making. Its policies are not done with due consideration of what the effects and consequences are. Not done with an understanding of the law. Not done with the inclusion of the people that are going to be affected by their policy."

On the Green party's indigenous policy she says, "They seem to not distinguish or recognize the difference between First Nations, Inuit and Metis for the most part. When I've engaged with the Green Party and asked them 'Who did you engage?' usually it's a couple of First Nations people from the West Coast. That is very problematic."

Rocchi says the Green Party would put the power back into the hands of the elders and leaders of Nunavut.

"It shouldn't be a big government making decisions for small communities. It should be small communities making decisions and the big government supports them. And that's clearly not happening in Nunavut."

Rocchi maintains the Conservatives, the Liberals and the NDP are committed to oil.

"It's not even like it's conspiracy. It's right there. They openly support pipelines and drilling. If they support drilling in other parts of the country, they're going to drill in Nunavut, too. If there's oil and it's profitable, that's what they're going to do."

Redfern sees a flaw in that all-or-nothing thinking, asserting that the Green Party's anti-development stance places Inuit in an untenable position - no commercial traditional economies and no modern economies.

"That leaves us with no economy."

In fact, she says, many Inuit recognize that Nunavut needs resource development.

"And we want to ensure that it's done responsibly. I think he's over-simplifying what the other parties' positions are. I don't believe that the other three parties state that it's development at all costs. That over-simplification of party positions is not honest and, therefore, not actually helpful in having an informed discussion between candidates and voters," she said.

"It appeals to their base, it may even sound good on its face, but with analysis of positions, for the most part, it unravels pretty quickly."

Nevertheless, Rocchi says that without protection, the North will undergo an industrial takeover.

"That's going to be it for our environment. We're already one of the worst environmentally-grounded countries in the world. We're just going to get worse. There's not going to be Inuit culture to refer to. If the climate changes or there's an oil spill, anything like that where there's a huge impact on the wildlife, that directly impacts Inuit culture. If the wildlife goes, so too will all the values and traditions that Nunavummiut hold valuable."

Finally, he said, paper candidates have won before.

"I'm going to be honest, it's not going great so far. There is some support here and there. But there's no fire. There's no sense of urgency. I'm really hoping that changes soon. Because it's very urgent," said Rocchi.

In 2011, 2.1 per cent of Nunavut voters chose the Green Party candidate, of the 39.4 per cent of eligible voters who cast a ballot.

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