BEHCHOKO/RAE-EDZO - Alcohol has been banned in Behchoko for about a month now, which may come as a surprise to some residents. Local RCMP say they are dealing with an increasingly high number of liquor-related incidents, partly because people simply don't know about the prohibition.

The ban was implemented June 15, a month after a slim 51 per cent majority of community members voted in favour of the question: "should the consumption, possession, purchase, sale and transport of liquor be prohibited in all that portion of the Northwest Territories that lies within the boundaries of Behchoko?"

From June 15 to July 15, Behchoko RCMP received a total of 298 calls. Of those, 200 were for alcohol-related incidents. During the same time period last year, RCMP received a total of 279 calls, 124 of which were logged as alcohol-related.

"I just came in from picking up an intoxicated male. There was an impaired driver last night - what can I say," RCMP Cpl. Maria Williams said Wednesday. "The majority of our calls are alcohol-related and continue to be alcohol-related."

The RCMP detachment continues to receive calls asking whether the ban is in effect yet, Williams said.

"The problem is, the majority of the people aren't aware that there was an alcohol ban," she said. "That's the major issue here."

Williams said crime rates in the community are generally higher during the summer and tend to increase from year to year with the population. It's still too early to tell whether the ban will be effective, she said.

Joe Beaverho, one of the Behchoko community government councillors who pushed to have the ban in place, he, too, was unaware the ban had already come into effect. The current council plans to meet once more before the newly elected chief and councillors take office July 27, and Beaverho said he hopes to talk with outgoing and incoming councillors about how to address the lack of awareness about the ban before his term ends.

"I guess it's up to the new councillors to see what they can do," he added.

Along with banning alcohol, Beaverho said he envisioned the community would provide sufficient support networks to help people through their addictions.

"We're supposed to be, you know, teaching them - it hasn't started yet. My plan was to meet with a wellness (counsellor), with a social worker and also with an educator to do more awareness in elementary to high schools," he said.

"You need serious people to sit down and talk about it and how we can go about it," he added. "That's not going to just take a month or six months or a year. It's going to take time."