An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (Indigenous languages)

Bill C-297 was an NDP Private Member's Bill amending the Canada Elections Act (S.C. 2000, c. 9) to permit the use of Indigenous languages on federal-election ballots and voting-information materials in ridings with significant Indigenous-language-speaking populations. Currently the Canada Elections Act framework provides for English and French ballots and accompanying materials only. Approximately 237,500 Canadians reported an Indigenous language as their mother tongue per the 2021 Statistics Canada census, including approximately 88,000 Cree speakers, 38,000 Inuktitut speakers, and 27,000 Ojibway/Anishinaabemowin speakers. Northern federal ridings (Yukon, Nunavut, Western Arctic) have approximately 30-50 percent Indigenous-language-speaking voters. Did not pass third reading.