John Curran
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 26, 2007

INUVIK - At least one young athlete in Inuvik is worried she's going to get caught violating Inuvik's new youth curfew, even though she's probably not someone it's aimed at.

Town councillors in Inuvik decided on Nov. 14, to re-institute a youth curfew similar to what the community used to have 25 years ago.

Now anyone younger than 16 who is spotted by police without proper adult supervision after 10 p.m. on weeknights or 11 p.m. on weekends will likely have to answer a few questions at the very least.

"(The bylaw) is OK, but for people like me and my friends who play a lot of sports it may not be good," said Rebecca Baxter, 14.

With soccer league games that sometimes go as late as 10 p.m., she's worried life will now be a lot more difficult as she and her friends often walk home after playing.

She's also concerned the new rules may make it harder for her to get ready for the 2008 Arctic Winter Games. Baxter is already an ulu-winning musher who brought home two golds and a silver from the 2006 Games in Alaska.

"At night I like to run my dogs and train for the games," she said. "It can get pretty late by the time I'm done feeding them."

The bylaw spells out three courses of action officers can take when they come across people they determine to be curfew breakers:

• Tell them to go home
• Take them home
• Or, issue a ticket to their parents.

"We're going to be giving some warnings," said Inuvik Mayor Derek Lindsay.

The bylaw also ratchets up the penalty for repeat offenders.

The first formal ticket is just a warning, but the second includes a $50 fine. On the third ticketed violation, the fine jumps to $75. If the youth continues to break curfew, each subsequent ticket given to their parents includes a $100 fine.

"I think it's a good idea," said resident Darlene Robinson.

While she no longer has children at home, she's lived in Inuvik since 2001 and before that she and her husband raised their daughter together in Tuktoyaktuk, where they called home from 1976-87.

"Children shouldn't be hanging around outside at that hour and their parents should know where they are," she said.

Around the NWT municipal youth curfews are not uncommon.

"I believe there are nine communities that currently have curfews," said Kyla Hesse, executive assistant to the town's mayor and senior administrative officer. "We looked closely at four of them - all of which carry the potential for fines."

In Inuvik's case, she said there was a considerable increase in youth crime, which sparked interest from council in enacting the bylaw.

"There was a lot of vandalism, you know, stuff kids do," she said.

The tipping point came, she added, when one town councillor reported witnessing a group of 83 youth hanging around outside a bar one night in October. While the idea of a curfew may sound like a good one, Baxter said she suspected it won't have much of an affect in Inuvik.

"I'm pretty sure most kids aren't going to follow it," she said.

- with files from Philippe Morin