Politics Politics (Canada) RCI

Date confirmed for election of president in Inuit gov in Atlantic Canada

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic @arctic_eq
Posted: Tuesday, August 18, 2020 at 14:17
0 Comments

The Nunatsiavut Assembly in the community of Hopedale in Atlantic Canada. The Nunatsiavut Government said on Tuesday their rescheduled October 6 presidential election will go ahead as planned. (Courtesy Nunatsiavut Government)

The government in the Inuit region of Atlantic Canada has confirmed that their rescheduled election for president will be on October 6, after being cancelled earlier this year because of COVID-19.

The government of Nunatsiavut, the Inuit region in the Atlantic Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, postponed the May 5 election this year over COVID-19 concerns.

In a news release on Tuesday, the Nunatsiavut Government said people should prepare for changes in polling stations this October because of the pandemic.

Changes will include limits on the number of people in the station at one time, enforcement of a minimum two-metre distance between people, hand sanitzer stations and frequent disinfecting of the area.

Inuit-language debate in September

A candidates’ debate in Innuttut, the Inuit language dialect in Nunatsiavut, will take place in September.

Advance polls are also also go ahead as usual and will be scheduled within ten days of the election.

Nunatsiavut’s population of 2560 is spread out between five communities along the Atlantic coast: Nain, Hopedale, Makkovik, Postville and Rigolet.

The current president is Johannes Lampe.

Nominations for the new president will close on September 1 at noon, Nunatsiavut time.

Write to Eilís Quinn at eilis.quinn(at)cbc.ca

Related stories from around the North:

Canada: Inuit gov. in Labrador, Canada tells out-of-province travellers to stay away despite ‘Atlantic bubble’, Eye on the Arctic

Finland: Finland joins other Nordic countries in virtual tourism due to pandemic, Yle News

Greenland: Greenland changes COVID-19 rules for travellers from Iceland, Faroe Islands, Eye on the Arctic

Iceland: Iceland intensifies COVID-19 border testing after case increase, Eye on the Arctic

Norway: Norwegian Arctic wilderness tourism hit particularly hard by coronavirus, The Independent Barents Observer

Russia: All Russia’s North Pole cruises rescheduled to 2021, Eye on the Arctic

Sweden: Sweden seen as major source of COVID-19 in Western Finland region, Yle News

United States: Airline shutdown creates new challenges for rural Alaska, The Associated Press

coronavirus, covid-19, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nunatsiavut

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic

Eilís Quinn is an award-winning journalist and manages Radio Canada International’s Eye on the Arctic news cooperation project. Eilís has reported from the Arctic regions of all eight circumpolar countries and has produced numerous documentary and multimedia series about climate change and the issues facing Indigenous peoples in the North.

Her investigative report "Death in the Arctic: A community grieves, a father fights for change," about the murder of Robert Adams, a 19-year-old Inuk man from Arctic Quebec, received the silver medal for “Best Investigative Article or Series” at the 2019 Canadian Online Publishing Awards. The project also received an honourable mention for excellence in reporting on trauma at the 2019 Dart Awards in New York City.

Her report “The Arctic Railway: Building a future or destroying a culture?” on the impact a multi-billion euro infrastructure project would have on Indigenous communities in Arctic Europe was a finalist at the 2019 Canadian Association of Journalists award in the online investigative category.

Her multimedia project on the health challenges in the Canadian Arctic, "Bridging the Divide," was a finalist at the 2012 Webby Awards.

Her work on climate change in the Arctic has also been featured on the TV science program Découverte, as well as Le Téléjournal, the French-Language CBC’s flagship news cast.

Eilís has worked for media organizations in Canada and the United States and as a TV host for the Discovery/BBC Worldwide series "Best in China."

Do you want to report an error or a typo? Click here!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply