Go back

Features



CDs

NNSL Logo .
 Email this articleE-mail this story  Discuss this articleOrder a classified ad Print window Print this page

Alcohol permits under scrutiny in Resolute, Baker Lake

Stephanie McDonald
Northern News Services
Published Monday, September 3, 2007

NUNAVUT - As Kugluktuk waits to hear if its request for a plebiscite on forming a committee to control alcohol will be granted by the GN, residents of other communities speak of the success they have had with their own such committees.

Resolute has had an Alcohol Education Committee for more than 10 years. The seven-member group reviews applications from community members who wish to import alcohol.

"If you're not a troublemaker your permit is approved. If you cause problems, you're requested to appear before the committee," said Aziz Kheraj, acting chairperson of Resolute's Alcohol Education Committee.

The committee approves 97 to 98 per cent of requests, yet Kheraj said that crime has been reduced within the community since the committee was formed.

"The court docket used to be three days long, now it's done in half a day or a day maximum," he said.

The group meets once every two weeks, reviewing 15 liquor orders on average. Half the approved orders are sent one week, half the following week. The controlled volumes make things more manageable for the police, according to RCMP Const. Terry Phalen, who informs the committee which residents have court orders prohibiting them from possessing alcohol. However, he acknowledged that bootlegging remains a problem "like it is in most communities in Nunavut."

In Baker Lake, a plebiscite in 2003 approved the Alcohol Education Committee.

"At one time you could order as much as you wanted. The elders didn't like it because there was bootlegging on the go and the younger kids were drinking," Christine Aylward, chair of the community's Alcohol Education Committee said.

Any community member who would like to import alcohol must pick up an application form at the RCMP detachment for $1, fill it out, and return it. The committee of seven people meets each Monday evening to review the applications. Requests that are approved are sent to Rankin Inlet to be filled.

Each week an applicant can receive 54 beer, or three 26-ounce bottles of liquor, or two 40-ounce bottles, or one 60-ounce bottle, or five bottles of wine, or combinations of equivalent volumes, said committee member Rhoda Terkison.

The committee used to receive approximately 40 requests a week, but with so many mining exploration camps coming into town, that number has jumped to 70 to 75, Aylward said. Most of the requests are granted.

The committee works hand in hand with the RCMP, who will provide notice of someone who has been in trouble due to alcohol.

For a first offence a person will be banned for three months from ordering alcohol. By the fourth offence it's a one-year ban. The committee imposes harsher penalties for offences that involve spousal abuse or if there are children involved.

"I believe it has made a difference in incidences of crime," Terkison said.

With the money raised from the applications, Alyward hopes to do something special for local kids. Some of the money will also go towards substance abuse programs.

"The elders appreciate what we are doing," she said.