Meet the federal candidates running in Nunavik

The federal candidates for the Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou riding, which includes Nunavik: from left to right, Liberal Mandy Gull-Masty, Conservative Steve Corriveau, Sylvie Bérubé of the Bloc Québécois, and the NDP’s Thai Dillon Higashihara. (CBC, Radio-Canada, Bloc Québécois, Thai Dillon Higashihara)

By Samuel Wat, RCI, CBC News

Liberals, NDP, Conservatives, Bloc Québécois have announced candidates for the upcoming federal election

Canadians will head to the polls on April 28, and Nunavimmiut and other Quebec voters will cast their ballot to decide who will represent them in Ottawa.

Nunavik is part of Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou, the third-largest riding by area in the country.

The riding encompasses many different cultures, including Naskapi, Anishinaabe, Cree, Inuit and francophone, and each community has its own unique stories and challenges.

Four people are running in Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou, for the Bloc Québécois, Conservatives, Liberals, and NDP.

The Green Party previously named a candidate but the party has since confirmed that Simon Paradis didn’t secure enough signatures to be on the ballot. No replacement has been named.

CBC spoke to three of the four candidates who are running in Nunavik.

Sylvie Bérubé, Bloc Québécois

Bloc Québécois candidate Sylvie Bérubé is seeking reelection for a third term as MP for the northern Quebec riding.

She declined a request for interview in English with CBC North.

The riding has been a Bloc Québécois stronghold. The party has held the seat for more than half of the last 25 years.

In 2019, Bérubé was the first woman to be elected in the riding. Before entering politics, she worked for 32 years in the health-care system, where she was the former director of the social committee at the Val-d’Or Hospital and administrator of the Taxibus Corporation for public transportation.

As MP, she was the Bloc Québécois critic for family, children and social development until very recently.

Speaking to Radio-Canada, Bérubé said she believes the Bloc has been a defender of Quebec’s interests in Parliament amidst increasing aggression from the U.S. She also sees herself as an involved person who has worked with several organizations across the region.

Steve Corriveau, Conservative

Conservative candidate Steve Corriveau is running in the riding for a second time.

Originally from Val-d’Or, Corriveau is quick to say he has no priorities for Nunavik, because he says there are already local organizations, like Makivvik and the Kativik Regional Government, who’ve outlined issues affecting their communities.

“Who am I to arrive here and decide that this priority would be better than another one already set by those already elected?” Corriveau said.

“So me, once elected, I will take the phone. I will call all those people and say, ‘what can I do on the federal matters that I could help you with,’ and I will bring that to Ottawa.”

He said he recognizes the challenges with building housing in the North – with higher costs and more logistics involved – and he wants to work on that.

“Down here [in southern Quebec], we would not accept the conditions that you guys up north are living,” he said.

If elected, Corriveau said he plans to travel to all of Nunavik’s communities, so he can meet the people he represents, and said he’ll enter those conversations with an open mind and respect.

“When I was a young boy, my parents told me that whenever you want respect in life, you must first show respect,” he said.

Mandy Gull-Masty, Liberal

From the conversations she’s had so far, she said she’s heard about a desire for action on climate change, economic development, and hunting rights for Inuit.

That also leads to food insecurity, which she said she noticed having once lived in northern Quebec. Her husband is from Whapmagoostui, which is adjacent to the Inuit community of Kuujjuarapik.

“Immediately [I had] concerns with access to food, ensuring that they’re able to have, you know, some kind of subsidy to bring down the cost of living,” she said.

“And now more so than ever, seeing the potential of what new tariffs can cause for us … we have a lot of natural resources, but the expense of living here is quite high.”

Thai Dillon Higashihara, NDP

Entering the race late was the NDP’s Thai Dillon Higashihara. The party had previously named Catherine Louie Leblanc Oweetaluktuk, who then dropped out for personal reasons.

Since January, Higashihara has been working as the NDP’s digital organizer based in Ottawa, but he has personal connections to the region.

He said his grandfather had a role in the creation of Oujé-Bougoumou, a Cree settlement in northern Quebec.

Higashihara said he’s having conversations with people across the region to better understand their needs, and he’s starting with his grandfather’s community.

Infrastructure, fulfilling the Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations, and protecting Indigenous languages are some of his priorities.

“I think there needs to be a better push for Indigenous languages actually being protected, codified and legally,” he said.

“There should be a legal space to protect Indigenous languages, much like [how] the French and English languages have been done across Canada.”

He believes the diversity of the region – and the many different perspectives – will be beneficial in finding a solution to common problems like housing and the cost of living.