Charges are pending against four people implicated in the RCMP seizure of these bottles and cans of alcohol in Tulita two weeks ago. - photo courtesy of RCMP |
Tulita liquor seizure leads to four arrests
MLA demands economic development to cut crime in wake of bust
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Monday, April 27, 2015
TULITA/FORT NORMAN
After the RCMP issued a news release detailing a high-volume liquor seizure in Tulita April 17, Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya fired a message to News/North from his cellphone.
The message was a call for economic development in the region in order to decrease unemployment, which he says will reduce crime.
Charges are pending against three men and one women implicated in the seizure of 49 375-ml bottles of alcohol, one 750-ml bottle of alcohol, four 1.14-litre bottles of alcohol, and 12 cans of beer while conducting a vehicle check, according to the police statement. The Yakeleya described occurrences like the "shameful display" of bootlegging will continue to happen until more jobs in the community, which as of 2009 had a 21 per cent unemployment rate, double the NWT average.
The April 17 news release came two weeks after eight Tulita residents were implicated in another "significant" RCMP seizure.
"There's really limited economic opportunity there," Yakeleya told News/North April 20.
"People need money to buy things, to pay bills and
to live. Bootleggers make things worse by preying on people with addictions and by bringing large quantities of alcohol which bring so much harm. Just look at the social services reports, health reports, justice reports. The police are doing a good job with the existing laws that are there."
Yakeleya said community leaders need to pressure federal and territorial governments to boost community employment by exploring oil and gas reserves found in the Sahtu region and need to invest in building a highway up the Mackenzie Valley. This, he says, will encourage the energy industry to do business there. Unless that happens, Yakeleya fears young people will continue to make money any way they can.
Development in the Sahtu has been at a standstill since last spring when both ConocoPhillips and Husky Energy announced they'd cancelled their 2014/15 winter drilling programs. ConocoPhillips has since submitted an application for a significant discovery licence in March for two parcels on the area's shale oil play, but still has not announced any plans to drill.
"They're starting to get criminal records," said Yakeleya. "They should have employment records, education records. We have the potential in the Sahtu with oil and gas. We're sitting on it. If you have a lemon make lemonade ... it has to happen."
He said alcohol is a huge money-maker for government so it should come as no surprise that residents try to make a living bootlegging.
"Alcohol is a good stream of revenue, just look at the Norman Wells liquor store, it just made over $2 million in revenue last year," he said. "I think we really need to sit down as a region and say we have done this in the past. We have made new legislation that prohibits people in dry communities to restrictions. It's not that the government is going to get us well, it's us as a people."
Tulita is a restricted community where the quantity of liquor a person can possess being strictly limited.
According to the RCMP statement, bootlegging is a problem in the community.
"Seizures of alcohol help curtail problems that come along with the abuse of alcohol," it states.
On Monday, the RCMP issued another news release regarding a liquor seizure out of the Sahtu region. It reported charges were laid against Claudia Artiga, 28, of Port Moody, B.C., who works in Norman Wells
on a rotational basis. The release states Artiga was charged with unlawful sale and supply after a month-long investigation revealed the suspect was allegedly purchasing large amounts of alcohol in Norman Wells and shipping it to Kugluktuk, a restricted Nunavut community. RCMP announced they seized 70 375-ml bottles of vodka as a result of the investigation.
"Start developing young leaders for our region," Yakeleya said.
"Young healthy leaders. If we don't, then we're going to be worse off ... we need to have that type of honest discussion with ourselves. Then they need to look at what's in the Sahtu. And not shy away from what we have here to help the territory or help Canada."
