Rankin Inlet (Feb 01/06) - The house-numbering system in Rankin Inlet could be a tragedy waiting to happen if residents don't learn their proper street addresses.

That possibility was vividly illustrated by an occurrence at the home of Coun. Noah Tiktak this past month.

The Tiktak family was watching TV around midnight when they were shaken by a series of hard knocks at their door.

"The knocking was heavy enough to scare my family and I remember thinking it was probably somebody drunk because it was so loud," said Tiktak.

"The police didn't wait for anybody to answer, they just came right into the house.

"My family didn't know what was going on, so everyone was pretty frightened."

It turned out the RCMP had received a call about an intoxicated person who refused to leave a home when asked.

The problem was, it was a different home on a different street.

Tiktak said the two houses have the same number and are only separated by one street.

The couple who called the police are unilingual elders who speak Inuktitut, while the officers on duty that night both speak English.

"The language barrier may have been where the problem started, but my biggest concern is the amount of time lost in responding to the call.

"What if it happens again in a violent situation?

"That five or 10 minutes the police lose could be the difference between life and death for somebody."

RCMP Sgt. Gavin Nash said identical numbers on different homes can create problems for police, especially when there are language issues involved or the caller doesn't know the official name of the street.

Nash said language difficulties between residents and police happen more often than people realize.

He said unilingual residents should contact a bilingual family member to call in a disturbance when possible.

"The truth of the matter is we don't have the resources to have an Inuktitut-speaking person here all at times," said Nash.

"If the 1111 number in Iqaluit is called they always have an Inuktitut-speaking person on duty, but most people call the local number."

"We have a bilingual dispatcher on during the day and we have two Inuktitut-speaking officers on staff, but, as much as I'd like to, I can't work them 24 hours a day."

Nash said the hamlet should step up its efforts to inform residents of the way the housing system works.

He said response time is always a top priority with police, but officers need to know exactly where they're going.

"Sometimes, when a call comes in, the police go into that robotic stage where they're just trying to get to the scene as quickly as possible.

"If the caller can't give the exact street name, then the officers are out there looking for the house number.

"There's no doubt different houses with the same number can cause difficulties in that situation."

Acceptance of Rankin's house-numbering system has been slow since implementation began in 2002.

In fact, the lack of speed in its acceptance has prompted letters of concern from the Kivalliq region's community planner in the past.

Rankin senior administrative officer John Hodgson said the biggest challenge to implementing the system continues to be residents not using their proper street name when giving their address.

He said a lot of thought and effort went into the system, and it works well as long as people know their proper street address.

"What happened at Coun. Tiktak's home is a perfect example of what can go wrong when someone just gives the house number and not the street name," said Hodgson.

"There's no denying it can be a dangerous situation, but the hamlet has been very diligent over the years in its efforts to inform people of their proper address."

Hodgson said official street signs/names will be put in place this summer.

He said the post office is adopting the system, as are the power corporation and the phone company.

"Everybody's buying into the system, but it has its growing pains.

"A project like this always does.

"At the end of the day, all we can do is keep putting the information out there until, eventually, everyone adapts to the system."