NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Signs are posted throughout Behchoko: Alcohol is prohibited within community limits. But signs don't change people's habits.

"You can put up signs and say as much as you want that there's no alcohol here. But if you don't enforce it it's just a joke," said one community resident who asked not to be named. "The bootleggers are still going to try and chance it."

It's been nearly a year and a half since a slim 51 per cent majority of Behchoko residents voted in favour of prohibition. The liquor ban came into effect on June 15, 2009, and Behchoko's 900 residents joined the ranks of the territory's seven "dry" communities.

But the law hasn't dried up the alcohol supply in those communities, where bootleggers continue to profit from their society's poison. In some places across the territory, a contraband 40-oz bottle of spirits can be had for more than $200, leading to some debate the effectiveness of complete bans versus liquor importing restrictions, or no restrictions at all.

Liquor-related calls in Behchoko doubled a month after the ban was implemented there, and officers at the local RCMP detachment said they continued to pick up individuals who complained they knew nothing about the prohibition.

"Usually when there's a prohibition put in like that, there's almost panic-buying in the initial phase," said Inuvik-based Staff Sgt. Bill Eubank, who has worked for 22 years across the territory, including in Behchoko.

Indeed, the number of liquor act violations Behchoko RCMP have dealt with recently has calmed down since the ban was first implemented. In September, there were 35 liquor act calls compared to 62 in Sept. 2009. But the reason for the decrease is difficult to pinpoint, even in communities that implemented restrictions years ago, Eubank said.

"The greatest percentage of our calls are alcohol-fuelled and whether you can honestly attribute any decline to alcohol prohibition is hard to say. It could be anything. Unemployment rates affect it the same way," he added. "I've been in communities where one of the biggest changes has been brought about by individual companies putting in alcohol screening programs for their employees."

Tuktoyaktuk RCMP Sgt. Calvin Roberts was stationed in Fort McPherson when liquor restrictions came into effect there in 2007 and last March he oversaw the implementation of Tuk's own community-approved restrictions. Since then, he said the detachment has had 35 per cent fewer calls and police have charged about a dozen individuals who were trying to bring in more than the allowed limit.

"I don't think a complete ban really works," Roberts said. "If people want to drink they're going to find a way to get it in and if there's a ban on it then it's going to increase bootlegging and the prices."

But if restrictions are in place, enforcement is fairly straightforward, and includes road and airport patrols.

"The liquor stores are helping out," he said.

Only six NWT communities have liquor stores and they are legally obligated to abide by municipal restrictions and refuse to ship alcohol over the community's agreed-upon limit.

But liquor finds other ways into people's hands, particularly to those who are underage, and groups who have advocated for liquor restrictions in their home communities have done so in hopes of sparing future generations from alcohol's destruction.

In Aklavik, where residents voted down proposed liquor restrictions by eight votes last December, there was little discussion about trying to pass a full-on ban, even from the plebiscite's most vocal proponents.

"There was some initial talk about having a prohibition, but that was short-lived," said Aklavik wellness worker Chris Main, explaining people didn't want to infringe on others' freedom. They just wanted to keep bootleggers away from kids.

"Often those transactions involved a youth, so that was the driving force behind the whole idea of a plebiscite in Aklavik," he added.

"When you're talking about young people, those under the age of majority, that are accessing alcohol - it certainly becomes about availability."

Though they seem to be working in Tuk, the push to implement restrictions in Aklavik has died down since the plebiscite failed. Meanwhile, bootleggers thrive in every community.

"You find out fast enough who you've got to keep an eye on," Sgt. Roberts said.

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