North rejects gender parity proposal

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Nunavut residents have rejected a legislative assembly that would guarantee an equal number of seats for men and women.

In a May 26 plebiscite, 57 per cent of voters rejected the proposal that would guarantee an equal number of men and women in the first legislative assembly of Nunavut - the new eastern territory that will be created when the Northwest Territories divide in 1999.

The plebiscite marked the end of weeks of debate carried out in church halls and gymnasiums in Nunavut's 26 communities. In the end, 2,662 voters said "No" while just 1,978 said "Yes." Only 39 per cent of the 12,085 registered voters bothered to cast ballots - nearly half the number that turned out a week later to elect a federal member of Parliament in the June 2 vote.

Theresie Tungilik, who led a strong no campaign in the Keewatin community of Rankin Inlet, said people supported her message that people should be elected on merit.

"The Keewatin took a strong no because our side was campaigning close to the heart," Tungilik said, explaining why hamlets such as Chesterfield Inlet, with a vote of nine to 117, rejected the proposal so decisively. "The yes side was painting a picture that we had to have a man and a woman, but the no side said it doesn't matter as long as we have good representation."

If the proposal had been accepted, voters in each electoral district would have cast two ballots - one from a list of male candidates and one from a list of female candidates - creating the first gender-equal legislative assembly in the world.

Supporters of that plan, such as the president of the Ottawa-based national Inuit women's association, Pauktuutit, said gender parity would overcome barriers - such as the 'old boys club' - that keep women from holding prominent positions.

"Inuit have been fighting for democracy for a long time, for human rights, Inuit rights, Aboriginal rights. And yet our government is still practising discrimination against women," Martha Flaherty said.

With more women in government, social problems that plague northern societies, such as sexual assault, suicide and solvent abuse, would be given a higher priority, she said.

The gender parity proposal was introduced two years ago by the commission set up to make recommendations on the make-up of the first government of Nunavut. It appeared to have strong support until earlier this year at a territorial leaders' meeting in Cambridge Bay.

At that meeting, two of the three signatories to the Nunavut Political Accord supported the proposal. Both the federal minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and the land claim organization Nunavut Tunngavik Inc gave the nod to the proposal.

But led by Manitok Thompson, the minister responsible for the status of women for the Northwest Territories, Nunavut legislative representatives said they couldn't support the proposal without knowing what Nunavut residents thought.

"I, for one, do not believe that it is right to put me, as a woman, in a position where, for the rest of my political career, I will only be able to run against women, because that is what gender parity means," Thompson stated at that meeting and reiterated throughout the campaign.

In a letter written to Thompson after the vote, Flaherty condemned this position saying the minister must resign because she isn't representing women's views.

"I, and many other Inuit women, feel you have used your elected office to put forward your personal views, which are contrary to your mandate to work towards the recognition and equality of women in the Northwest Territories," Flaherty wrote.

John Amagoalik, who's fought since the 1970s to create the new territory, was one of the proposal's strongest supporters.

Amagoalik declined to comment publicly after the defeat, but stated his disappointment in the northern newspaper Nunatsiaq News.

"We would not be truthful if we did not admit to feeling some pain and sadness," he wrote in his weekly column. "We would belying if we did not admit to feeling betrayed by some of our colleagues who waffled under pressure. But time will heal.

"The no side has won. I hope they will ask themselves a few years down the road just what kind of victory this was."

In the end only nine communities, including a majority of inmates at the Iqaluit correctional centre, supported the proposal.

The N.W.T. legislative assembly has the worst record in the country for representation by women with only eight per cent of the total.