KUGAARUK/PELLY BAY
Kugaaruk is still a dry community after a majority of residents voted to maintain the community's current liquor status in a Feb. 25 plebiscite.
Sixty-three per cent of voters, or 188 votes out of the 300 cast, voted against freely allowing alcohol into the community while 36 per cent, or 108 people, voted in favour of the change, according to results from Elections Nunavut. Four ballots were rejected.
For a plebiscite to pass, 60 per cent of voters would need to vote in favour of a change.
With the result, Kugaaruk will remain one of six territorial communities which prohibit liquor.
Mayor Stephan Inaksajak said the plebiscite result is "good news."
"I'm happy they voted 'No.' The people should be happy," he said.
As for Greg Holitzki, the hamlet's senior administrative officer, he said the result wasn't as close as he originally thought.
"I'm sure there are some people that aren't happy but the people I talked to so far this morning (Feb. 26) are very happy," he said. "That's the way they wanted to see it was no liquor in the community."
But he added if someone wants alcohol in a community, they will get it in, even illegally. A big difference exists between being open with alcohol and having some illegal alcohol in a community, explained Holitzki.
"The public decided and they were clear on they don't want alcohol," he said. "That will never remove alcohol from a community."
The community had submitted a 25-signature petition to Finance Minister Keith Peterson to request the plebiscite, a request granted in early January.
Almost all the 303 eligible voters turned out for the plebiscite, with 300, or 99 per cent of them, participating, according to information from Elections Nunavut.
Inaksajak said the high participation rate, although he estimated it at 80 to 85 per cent, surprised him.
"It was a pretty high turnout," he said.
