Sunday bar debate rages on
Spirited discussion ends committee meeting
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Thursday, March 23, 2017
INUVIK
The debate on whether to allow Class A liquor license holders in Inuvik to sell booze on 16 extra Sundays per year raged on at second reading of a bylaw designed to do just that.
Melinda Gillis tells council that people who are addicted to alcohol will drink on Sundays whether the Trapper is open or not. - Stewart Burnett/NNSL photos
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The debate took place during the town's committee of the whole meeting Monday, March 20.
"We've got this thing (the new bylaw) in front of us for one reason and one reason only, and that's because one man feels he is not making enough money," said Coun. Vince Sharpe, referring to Rick Adams, owner of The Mad Trapper bar, who brought the request to council.
Coun. Sharpe does not support the request.
Currently, Adams is allowed to open his bar on 10 Sundays of the year. His request is to add 16 more Sundays from April 1 to September 30. If the bylaw passes, it would apply to all Class A liquor licenses in Inuvik.
Coun. Alana Mero also expressed opposition to the change, drawing a distinction between how people on each side of the debate talk about the subject.
Those who are okay with more openings typically say they don't care or don't have much interest in the debate, she said, while those against the change are often more personally or emotionally invested in their opposition.
The emotion often stems from the stories of how alcohol abuse has destroyed homes and families.
"We're talking about the most vulnerable members of the community," said Mero. "While adults do have choices, sometimes they have trouble making good choices."
Letters from the Gwich'in Tribal Council and Inuvialuit Regional Corporation added to the voices concerned about the potential change.
The GTC letter, said Sharpe, referenced the traditional sanctity of Sundays as a time of rest.
Melinda Gillis addressed council as a business owner herself.
"I don't know about all you guys with kids, but Monday through Sunday is family day in my house," she said. "It isn't just on Sunday. I don't just teach my kids values on Sunday."
She took issue with council being able to govern whether a business can open on a certain day of the week.
"The rest of Canada does open bars on Sundays, not just Yellowknife," said Gillis. "It's common practice."
"Those same people that might end up in that facility are going to be doing it under a utilidor, under a building, in someone else's home that day," said Gillis. "They're going to do it whether there's a bar open or not."
Gillis added that resources should go toward a treatment centre.
Deputy Mayor Steve Baryluk, who supports the bylaw, said he appreciated the sentiment expressed from the GTC and IRC but said they were based on "false logic."
Nothing about a bar being open on Sundays stops people from practising their traditions, he said.
Using that argument, he continued, one could make the same case for closing Northmart on Sundays.
He also agreed with the need for counselling and treatment.
"I haven't seen anything that's reasoned and rational that makes me change my opinion," Baryluk said.
"The nature of addiction requires people to consume every day, whether there's a place to go get it or not."
Leah Ipana told council the majority of people at a public meeting in January asked council not to vote in favour of the motion.
"The people that actually care about this outcome went to the meeting and asked all of you to vote no," she said.
Coun. Clarence Wood floated the idea of holding a plebiscite on the issue, while Mayor Jim McDonald said this debate was probably the biggest issue the council has faced so far.
The result of the vote on the second reading of the bylaw Wednesday night was not available at press time. Even if the bylaw were to pass second reading, it will require a ministerial review and a third reading.
