Iqaluit (July 14/03) - It is a topic almost everyone has something to say about in Nunavut: liquor and drinking.

Now the rules are changing, and more liquor will be getting easier to buy in Nunavut.

Deena Ootoovak, 21, said liquor stores will mean more liquor in people's homes which is bad, especially if there are small children around. - Kathleen Lippa/NNSL photo

There are proposed changes to the Liquor Act which will enable people to buy up to and including $5,000 worth of liquor where the limit was $500 under the "special occasions" permit.

People are getting anxious about what these seemingly small changes in legislation will mean in the big picture.

When people can apply for these new permits, liquor stores are not far behind.

News North hit the streets to find out what people think about increased access to liquor in the territory.

Men, for the most part, want increased access to liquor, while every woman interviewed was strongly opposed to the idea.

Armand Ulayuruluq, 20, was one of the men firmly against giving Nunavummit easier access to alcohol.

He thinks opening a liquor store in Iqaluit, for example, would be a very bad idea.

It didn't take him long to say this, as he stopped briefly on his walk up Ring Road, towards where Joamie school once stood.

"A lot of guys have a problem with drinking," he said. "And it'll only get worse."

Cab driver Mike VanGenny said Iqaluit is ready to join all the other capital cities in Canada and get itself a liquor store.

"It's making people mad," he said of Iqaluit's lack of a proper store for beer, wine and spirits. "Everyone else has got one," he said. "I don't drink, but it's time," he said.

VanGenny added, however, that if Iqaluit is going to start selling booze in stores, "they have got to get a better court system, a better system of justice," to crack down on the serious possibility there could be an increase in crime.

Josh Kaiser, 20, knows there is plenty of bootlegging of liquor going on in Iqaluit, and said "what's the difference? Anyone can order it in."

But then, Kaiser does know the difference. His uncle just opened some liquor stores in Alberta.

"We were talking about this the other day," Kaiser said, leaning over the coffee shop counter where he works. "I was reading about it in the newspaper, too," he added. "But I don't think there's going to be an increase in crime. It'll cut down on all the bootlegging that's going on."

Stephane Bernier, 30, made no hesitation at all saying "Bring it on," with the mention of a liquor store in Iqaluit.

"It's ridiculous we have to pay $80 for a flat of beer. After all, we are in Canada."

Bernier knows people right now will pay $200-300 for a bottle of booze, and that, to him, is a crime.

"I'm all for it," added Travis Cooper, 23. "I'd have to pay $150 for a 60 ouncer," he said.

He knows many people who spend practically every cent they have on expensive bootlegged booze. "Maybe if there is a liquor store, they won't be spending so much money, they'll have more money for food."

But he added that booze should be kept regulated, even if it is in store.

"You'll still need your permits or whatever."

There are no regulations too strict for Deena Ootoovak, 21, who stopped to speak while walking with her two small children.

"They have bars!" she said. "Don't they have enough? If they can buy it, they will be bringing it home, too. They'd drink more. And that's not good with children around."

Wakta Ottokie, 18, had a similar reaction.

"What for?" she said when asked if Iqaluit needs a liquor store.

Ottokie said drinking makes people "violent," and that she could see crime rise as a result of more booze being sold in stores, and not just in bars.

When booze flows too freely, "bad things happen," she said.

Ernie Bernhardt, a community development consultant based in Kugluktuk agrees.

Bernhardt struggled with alcoholism for years, and watched his family and his health suffer.

"You either take the bottle, or you take your wife," he said. "I took my wife."

He finally left the bottle five years ago.

"With all the pain and sorrow, and social ills that go with alcohol, I think it's a bad idea," he said of opening stores.

But, on the other side of the issue, liquor sales can generate extra revenue for the Nunavut government, he added.

"I know it's a really, really touchy subject in Nunavut. There will come a point where we have to decide."

If liquor is made widely available, then there should be a big push from communities to have more "positive services" in place, like better indoor and outdoor programs for kids.

"I'm tired of hearing our young people saying 'bored,' but our gymnasiums are bare," he said.

"What's wrong with developing programs like boxing clubs? And other programs that can build sound mind and body?"