N.W.T. MLAs vote down recommendation to redraw electoral boundaries

N.W.T. MLAs voted last Tuesday to reject a recommendation that the territory's 19 existing electoral districts be maintained while redrawing boundaries in the Yellowknife and Inuvik ridings.

In a final report from the NWT electoral boundaries commission, tabled on May 27, the commission made five recommendations, discussed last week in the Legislative Assembly.

The first recommendation suggested keeping the territory's 19 ridings and readjusting boundaries between electoral districts in Yellowknife and Inuvik to provide "a more balanced distribution of the community's population" among electoral districts.

In a seven-to-six vote, with one MLA abstaining, the motion to accept the commission's first recommendation was defeated.

Those who voted against it cited underrepresentation of constituents, particularly in the Yellowknife North and Monfwi ridings, saying the commission should have suggested two additional MLAs.

Rylund Johnson, MLA for Yellowknife North, said he expected to see additional seats in the report and "would have favoured" a recommendation to bring the assembly to 21 seats.

Caroline Cochrane and Caroline Wawzonek, both MLAs for Yellowknife ridings, echoed Johnson.

Cochrane said she's been hearing about underrepresentation "for many years," and said she's "not a hundred per cent sure why the committee didn't address that or give it a solid explanation of why not. I think that kind of a disservice was done."

Caucus chair Frieda Martselos, also the MLA for Thebacha, was travelling during the vote. However she addressed the assembly's decision in her member's statement the following day.

Martselos said had the motion been carried, she would have introduced legislation this week to establish new electoral boundaries in Yellowknife and Inuvik for the 2023 election.

Since the motion was defeated, however, "the status quo will remain."

"That leaves us with a number of ridings, particularly Yellowknife North and Monfwi, that are unacceptably larger than the average riding size," Martselos said. "It remains to be seen whether this will result in a legal challenge."

Two prior court challenges

Martselos pointed out that electoral boundaries have been challenged twice before:firstin 1998, when a group of citizens brought the assembly to court. They argued that the 14-seat legislature didn't properly represent the territory's urban areas.

In March 1999, the N.W.T. Supreme Court ruled in their favour. As a result, the number of representatives from Inuvik and Hay River increased from one to two and the number of representatives from Yellowknife increased from four to seven.

The second instance was in 2015, when the City of Yellowknife sued the territory over underrepresentation in the capital.

The city argued it was unfair for it to be allotted only seven of 19 seats when it accounts for almost half the territory's population. It lost the case.

Johnson and Martselos both expressed concern over being brought to court, though Martselos seemed to be in favour of the commission's recommendations.

She saidhistory has shown "results can be very unpredictable" when members ignore advice from the commission and "let the courts decide for us."

Martselos was not available to comment on her position.

Without the addition of the extra seats, Johnson said that "whether people from the Tch region or people from Yellowknife bring a court case, that we will lose that, and we will put that all into chaos."

Recommendation to change riding name accepted

In its report, the commission said that the current number of MLAs "is sufficient to provide fair and effective representation." It stated there has not been any significant growth to the territory's population and that there's no justification to increase electoral districts.

In bringing the motion forward, R.J. Simpson, as deputy chair of caucus, recommended the commission's suggestion be accepted. He did not address the issue of the extra seats, but said adjusting the electoral boundaries would bring necessary "rebalancing" to the ridings.

"We strike independent commissions to do this work for us to try and keep politics out of these important decisions," he said.

Simpson also brought forward the commission's recommendation to correct the spelling of the Deh Cho electoral district to Dehcho. That suggestion came from public hearings that indicated the riding's name should be one word, not two.

That recommendation was accepted.

The legislation to make that change is expected to come forward this sitting. Johnson said he expects at that point there will be further debate.