Voter participation within Inuit communities during the 2025 federal elections saw a decline, sparking calls from leaders for enhanced community engagement. Elections Canada recently released a report detailing the estimated turnout in Indigenous communities during the 45th general election in April 2025.
The voter turnout in Inuit communities has decreased over the past three federal elections, dropping from 43.6% in 2019 to 30.2% in 2025. In contrast, the overall voter turnout across Canada in the same year stood at 69.5%.
While the trend varied across regions, voting rates among Inuit in the Inuvialuit region of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut increased by 7.5% and 1.6% respectively compared to the 2021 federal election, with voter turnout hovering around 35%.
Conversely, Inuit in the Nunatsiavut region of Newfoundland and Labrador experienced a slight 2.5% decrease in comparison to 2021. The most significant drop in turnout was observed in Nunavik, part of the Abitibi–Baie-James–Nunavik–Eeyou riding in Quebec, where only 14.7% of Inuit voters participated in the election, nearly half of the 2021 turnout rate.
Elections Canada attributed this decline in Nunavik partly to polling booth closures or delayed openings in most of the region’s 14 villages due to adverse weather conditions and a lack of staff on voting day. The agency acknowledged shortcomings in prior outreach efforts and meaningful engagement with all Nunavik communities, including those offering voting services.
Pita Aatami, president of Makivvik representing Inuit in Nunavik, emphasized the need for election officials to actively engage with communities and fulfill their responsibility to ensure proper voter participation. Aatami expressed concerns about voter apathy and proposed exploring mandatory voting similar to the census process as a potential solution.
He also suggested that implementing online voting, a practice already adopted by Makivvik for its internal elections, could facilitate increased voter turnout. Aatami emphasized the importance of individual accountability in exercising the right to vote, stating that citizens should take personal responsibility for participating in elections.