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PANNIQTUUQ/PANGNIRTUNG
After three years and two drafts, a public intoxication bylaw may be coming soon to Pangnirtung.

Pang, a dry community since the 1970s, is in fact one of the wettest so-called dry communities in the North, said Ron Mongeau, the hamlet's senior administrative officer.

"It's relatively easy to get booze into this community," he said, explaining that despite the only two entry points being the post office and airport, local RCMP can only act on firm tips from the public. "We can't stop bootleggers from bringing booze in, but we can try to force people, if they're going to drink, to stay behind closed doors and not cause problems."

The impetus for the bylaw, said Mongeau, is similar to situations in many other Nunavut communities.

"Because we're a dry community we don't get a lot of people who have a few drinks and put the bottle away and have a few drinks later. What you end up with is people who binge drink," he said. "We were seeing the impact of this on the community - people getting out in public, driving vehicles, causing accidents, harassing and abusing people, elders being scared. Just a very bad situation."

Three years ago Mongeau drafted a public intoxication bylaw stating if a person was found drunk on the streets of Pangnirtung, the hamlet could fine them.

The initial draft of the bylaw overstepped the hamlet's authority, according to the Government of Nunavut. Issue was taken with the wording, which the GN argued went beyond the authority of current liquor restrictions - specifically, the use of "intoxication." The hamlet didn't have the authority to regulate the effects of alcohol in the community, the territorial government maintained.

Mongeau and the hamlet council, rather than fight it, submitted a newly worded draft, calling it a "public nuisance bylaw."

"I want to make sure the government understands the impact that drunks have in this community once they decide to get drunk and get out in public," he said, adding that the hamlet is working co-operatively with the government and insists on heavy fines as a deterrent.

"If you want to get drunk and get stupid, then we're going to fine you and make it a whopping fine to try to discourage this," he said.

In the proposed bylaw, a first offence would carry a fine of $250, a second-time offence $500 and $1,000 for subsequent offences. The bylaw has been shown to Mayor Sakiasie Sowdlooapi as well as GN lawyers for the official OK on wording. Hamlet bylaws do not require ministerial approval. After posting local notices and due diligence, the bylaw will go through three readings by council and passed.

Because the bylaw is pending approval, RCMP members in the Pang detachment would not comment on it. A media spokesperson for RCMP V Division could not be reached for comment before press deadline.

The issue of profiteers bootlegging liquor is of serious enough concern for the Government of Nunavut that it assembled an 11-member Nunavut Liquor Act Review Task Force to examine the issue over the past two years and advise the GN how to write a new Nunavut Liquor Act.

Last November, the task force released a 195-page report suggesting, among other things, that every Nunavut community develop an alcohol strategy and that a new Liquor Act give communities more power to impose 48-hour alcohol prohibition bans. Regarding bootlegging, it reported the economic value is at least $10 million a year, which is likely an underestimate.

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