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NUNAVUT
With mining operations expected to increase in the territory, communities are looking at ways to prepare Nunavut for big changes - including its relationship with alcohol.

Four years ago, Darryl Wood, a professor at Washington State University Vancouver, published a study looking at the rates of violent crime in communities that permit alcohol compared to those that don't.

"As elsewhere in the Arctic, isolated Inuit communities in Nunavut experience less violence when they prohibit the importation of alcoholic beverages," his study concluded.

The study found that between 1987 and 2006 wet communities had a 188 per cent greater rate of homicides than dry communities; serious assaults were 110 per cent higher in wet communities and sexual assaults were 48 per cent higher.

"The dry communities are safer than the wet communities," Wood said. "And it's been that way for 20, 25 years now."

Nunavut's rate of violent crime is five times the national average, according to Statistics Canada.

But Wood said alcohol should only be seen as a "catalyst" for the deeper problems facing Nunavummiut.

"Everybody sees it as an easy explanation," he said. "There are bigger issues."

This past spring, the Government of Nunavut and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. released the territory's poverty action plan. Titled the Makimaniq Plan, it outlined the factors contributing to the territory's socio-economic issues.

Even at its peak in 2009, Nunavut's high school graduation rate was only 39 per cent, the report stated. The unemployment rate, while dropping, currently sits at 15 per cent, which is more than double the national average.

Fifty-four per cent of Nunavummiut live in public housing and 70 per cent of children live in households without adequate food security.

Even in communities that prohibit alcohol, Wood said the rates of violence are still high.

"When you compare the dry communities to the rest of Canada, they're still more violent than places in the south of Canada," he said.

Wood said one of the problems with drinking in Nunavut is the method of drinking and type of alcohol. He said his study on liquor distribution in the territory revealed that Inuit tended to drink hard alcohol rather than beer or wine.

The Nunavut Land Claims Agreement requires mining companies to report socio-economic impacts to the Nunavut Impact Review Board every year, as well as participate in Socio Economic Monitoring Committees.

In the Kivalliq region, the committee is made up of representatives from various government departments, community leaders and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd., owner of the territory's only operational mine - the Meadowbank gold mine 70 km north of Baker Lake. The mine currently employs about 165 Baker Lake residents.

The company owns the Meliadine gold project near Rankin Inlet, which is expected to begin production in 2017.

AREVA Resources, which aims to build a uranium mining project west of Baker Lake, also attended the committee meeting, which was held in Baker Lake in the fall of 2010.

In the committee's 2011 report, it was noted that RCMP said crime in the Kivalliq region had increased from 2005 to 2010.

According to the report, the number of violent crimes had increased by 55 per cent and property crime numbers increased by 53 per cent.

"The RCMP suggested that alcohol plays a part in most if not every prisoner in Nunavut's correction services," the report stated.

However, RCMP Supt. Hilton Smee was quick to point out that RCMP are not making a direct connection between the increase in crime and Meadowbank.

Smee said Chief Supt. Steve McVarnock shared the RCMP's findings at the Nunavut Mining Symposium last spring.

"What we said was, 'Here's what we know based on the statistics. Let's just think about how this is going to impact other communities if, in fact, it relates to mining activity'," Smee said. "I hate to say 'mining activity.' This is not about putting the onus solely on the mine."

Still, Smee said alcohol, crime and other problems need to be recognized as possible concerns.

"We raised the notion that there were some social issues that may come about because of enhanced industry presence in the North," he said.

Smee said from January 2012 until November, 61 per cent of all domestic violence complaints in Baker Lake involved alcohol.

Alcohol was involved in 72 per cent of disturbing the peace calls and 62 per cent of mischief to property.

Forty-seven per cent of assaults were considered alcohol-related.

"(But it's) very difficult to say it's simply because of the presence of the mine," Smee said.

Smee said the key to mitigating problems involves RCMP, communities, agencies and companies working together.

"We've gone beyond, 'here's the statistics - do something about it'," he said. "We are, in fact, involved, and that's a good thing."

Graeme Dargo, the superintendent of community engagement for Agnico Eagle, agreed. He said while company representatives do not believe its operations are directly impacting crime rates in Baker Lake, an increase in wealth could contribute to problems that already exist, particularly alcohol abuse.

"One of the challenges that comes with that, and I think it's a well-known fact throughout the North well before Agnico Eagle started operating in the Kivalliq, there is a problem with alcohol-related issues," he said.

Dargo said the company is working with RCMP and territorial ministers to discuss ways to mitigate problems. Drugs and alcohol are prohibited at Meadowbank itself.

He also said the company is involved in developing a pilot project with the Hamlet of Arviat, which involves the company, the territorial government and Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada. Meadowbank currently employs 46 Arviat residents.

Dargo said the project aims to tackle not just alcohol, but to also help employees and families deal with other problems working full time away from home can bring.

For some employees, being away from family for two weeks at a time while working at Meadowbank has been a tough burden to bear, he said.

Two-hundred-and-thirty Kivalliq residents were employed by the mine in 2010, but 86 had quit or been terminated by year's end, the committee's report stated.

Dargo said there is an average "no show" rate of 27 per cent during crew change throughout the region.

"That means we're hiring people two or three times," he said. "We have a chronic absentee issue."

As a result, the company and hamlets partnered to hire human resource liaisons in communities to make sure employees made it on the planes to the mine site.

Dargo said part of the pilot project in Arviat is to create a toolkit to help communities throughout the territory's transition.

"We wanted to be able to develop a self-help tool kit," he said. "A tool kit to help communities prepare for and manage major development activities."

It also aims to co-ordinate new and existing services in the community to help employees and their families, such as creating meeting groups so elders and community members can gather, share coffee and talk.

Dargo said while ideas are only preliminary, a meeting is scheduled to take place in Arviat in early spring to develop a framework.

He said improving employees' lives is good for the community and the company.

"This is about communities and their responsibilities," he said. "They have an interest in getting their people employed."

Thirty-one people from Rankin Inlet currently work at Meadowbank, Dargo said. Mayor Pujjuut Kusugak said people in his community are definitely interested in the jobs the mine has to offer.

"When there's been community consultations going on here in Rankin, there has been a push and almost a demand for employment," he said. "So people do want to work. People do want these skills so they can provide for their families."

Kusugak said his hope is that residents trained to work in the mine can use those skills for other jobs or projects that arrive in the region.

He said the community has met with RCMP and are working on plans to help people cope with the changes the mining industry will bring.

"This money is giving more people responsibility and more priorities that they have to think about," he said. "There are definitely adjustments."

Kusugak said more money could mean more alcohol, which is why the hamlet has begun preliminary talks about promoting alcohol education and working with the territorial government and RCMP to come up with plans.

Dargo said the process of helping communities deal with social issues is new to Agnico Eagle as well.

"We're miners, we're good at training people to be good miners, but we're not experts in education and we're certainly not experts in health," he said. "We know there's an issue, we want to do something about it, but were not experts at this stuff. We hope it leads to healthier communities that produce healthier employees."

In May, NTI received $2,249,500 as its first royalty payment from the Meadowbank project.

It's probable gold reserves were 3.4 million ounces in 2010.

As part of its agreement to extract minerals on Inuit-owned lands, the company will pay $12 in royalties for every $100 of net profits.

The Nunavut Impact Review Board approved Baffinland's Mary River project in September. The iron mine is expected to create more than 4,000 jobs during its construction phase and will need 1,000 employees for the first deposit's anticipated 21-year lifespan.

While it is located south of Pond Inlet, Smee said that so far, there have not been any concerns.

"We haven't seen any impact from Pond at this time," he said.

- with files from Thandiwe Vela

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