QIKIQTARJUAQ/BROUGHTON ISLAND - When most people are getting ready for bed, David Avuqingaq is heading out to work.

David Avuqingaq has been working as the bylaw officer in Qikiqtarjuaq for the last year. - Emily Ridlington/NNSL photo

The 40-year-old native of Qikiqtarjuaq works with the hamlet as the bylaw enforcement officer and his day starts at 9 p.m.

"I like my job and I want to help the community and its people," he said.

Avuqingaq drives around the community checks the locks on hamlet buildings, and ensures the curfew bylaws are being enforced between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

He said each shift he doesn't know if it will be a quiet night or if he will be kept really busy.

He can also issue speeding tickets or give fines for people who run their Ski-Doos without lights or to ATV riders who aren't wearing a helmet.

Then there are his additional duties.

If a person goes missing he is involved with the search and rescue efforts and drives people to the health centre.

With no wildlife officer in town, Avuqingaq also is on polar bear patrol.

"They gave me bangers to scare all the polar bears," he said, adding the last one spotted was in December or January a couple of houses away from the Northern.

He has been on the job for about the last year.

While he said he loves what he does, he does think he should have a partner, like the RCMP officers do, to go out on patrol with.

"If I need help I call the RCMP and a few times bad things have happened and I didn't feel safe," Avuqingaq said.

Once he was hired to work as the bylaw officer, he had to take the first level of a bylaw enforcement course offered in Rankin Inlet.

But how does he manage to stay awake all night?

"I drink coffee, listen to music and keep the temperature down in the truck," he said.

At 5 a.m. while everyone is still sleeping, Avuqingaq goes home to bed.

"It's a good thing I only need four or five hours a day of sleep."

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