Pangnirtung, Rankin Inlet to vote on liquor laws
Last Updated: Friday, October 23, 2009 | 4:42 PM CT
CBC News
People in two Nunavut communities will cast ballots Monday on whether to change how alcohol is imported and consumed.
Residents of Pangnirtung, located on Baffin Island, will vote on whether to remain a dry community that prohibits alcohol or to allow alcohol to be brought in under a controlled import system.
"It's up to each community to decide what they want in terms of liquor control in their own communities," Nunavut deputy finance minister Peter Ma, whose department is responsible for liquor management in the territory, told CBC News.
"We've had a request from people in Pang to go towards the plebiscite, to decide if they want to go from prohibited to restricted."
Committee would be formed
If Pangnirtung residents vote to change the hamlet from a dry to a restricted community, an "education committee" would be set up to govern how residents order in alcohol.
"An alcohol education committee would really have two primary focuses. One would be to make the kind of rules that would govern who could bring alcohol into the community and what kinds and quantities of alcohol they could bring in," said Ron Mongeau, Pangnirtung's senior administrative officer.
"The other focus would be on providing education for the community, providing counselling and education so that the community can understand the pros and the cons of alcohol."
Mongeau added that the committee's educational component would be critical should Pangnirtung move toward allowing alcohol into the community.
"One of the things that's happened with prohibition in the community is that there has not been any educational work that's taken place to really, you know, acquaint people with the problems that alcohol can cause and provide any kind of counselling service for people who require it," he said.
At least 60 per cent of eligible voters must vote in favour of restricted status in order for prohibition to end in the community, Mongeau said.
Changes proposed in Rankin Inlet
Meanwhile, residents in the central Nunavut community of Rankin Inlet will also vote Monday on whether to change their existing liquor regulations.
The Rankin Inlet plebiscite will ask whether residents favour removing old regulations that prevents the sale of beer in licensed local establishments.
It will also ask voters whether restaurants should be allowed to get dining room licences so that people can have alcoholic beverages with their meals.
Residents who attended an Oct. 15 public meeting, hosted by the Nunavut Liquor Commission, asked if the proposed changes would, among other things, govern how many drinks a person can order with a meal.
"If a hotel or a dining room applies for a licence, that they will be able to give one or two drinks, that it would be with restrictions?" asked Geela Pitsoleak, one of about 30 people at the public meeting.
Liquor commission officials said the number of drinks a person could have would depend on how much that person orders.
Local elder Veronica Manilak said she was disappointed that the commission did not address the issue of bootlegging in Rankin Inlet.
Speaking in Inuktitut, Manilak told CBC News that she does not mind if a dining room obtained a licence to sell alcohol with meals, but she is more concerned about individuals illegally selling alcohol for profit.
