Darrel Greer
Northern News Services

Baker Lake (June 05/02) - Gambling fever has broke out in Baker Lake.

Community members are worried about gambling's impact on the hamlet, with some homes hosting 24-hour gambling parties.

Regional addictions specialist Simeon Mikkungwak says gambling is a problem, but each community is distinct in its problems.

"In some hamlets solvent abuse may be more prevalent, while it may be alcohol and drugs in others," says Mikkungwak. "However, in Baker, gambling has been seen as increasing fairly dramatically during the last while."

One incident reported to the Kivalliq News described a distraught husband, fed up with his wife not coming home despite repeated calls to the house where she was gambling. The husband showed up with a fire extinguisher and, along with blanketing the home with fire retardant, holed up more than 10 gamblers in a washroom under threats of dousing them.

Baker Lake RCMP Const. Yvonne Niego says there has been no significant increase in the number of calls to the detachment concerning gambling that she's aware of. Niego says no complaints were lodged with the RCMP concerning the fire extinguisher incident. But she did hear about the incident.

"I have heard rumours in town that the incident you're speaking about did happen," says Niego. "But that's all I can say on the matter."

Mikkungwak says gambling is a problem across Canada and solutions depend on how dedicated a community is to addressing the issue. Most troubling, he says, is that in homes where a gambling problem exists, family violence usually occurs.

Negative habits also begin to show, such as the neglect of children and substance abuse, he says, adding one problem in dealing with gambling in the Kivalliq is that there isn't a lot of legislation to help combat it.

"If you want to go to somebody's house and start playing cards with quarters or whatever, there's not much in place to help us stop that," he says.

"There's high unemployment rates in most Kivalliq communities and some people see gambling as a source of income, but their chances are very slim. The community needs to work together to solve the problem."