Vandals, thieves test western Nunavut community’s patience

These offensive messages, spraypainted in red, can be found on the warehouse of the Northern store in Cambridge Bay. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)

In this image taken from a video posted on Facebook, you can see kids playing in the yard of the Cambridge Bay Housing Association June 5 after 11 p.m.

This week people in western Nunavut’s Cambridge Bay turned to social media to vent about repeated outbreaks of vandalism, ranging from graffiti to serious break-ins that took place last weekend in this community of about 1,800 people.

The incidents, which took place during the sun-filled nights of June 4 and June 5, included:

• vandalism and theft at an elder’s camp where thieves took a snow machine, new gas auger, a case of naptha fuel — and broke down the door;

• spray-painted graffiti, including highly offensive slur words like “nigger” and “bitch,” sprayed in red on the side of the Hudson Bay warehouse; and,

• a break-in at Kitikmeot Foods Ltd. where thieves left the door to the freezer open, leading to the giveaway of 2,000 pounds of melted Arctic char — “if you have dogs that need feeding please come by the plant during business hours to pick up some char,” was a Facebook post from the fish plant’s management. (That post was later removed.)

As well, children were playing in the yard of the Cambridge Bay Housing Association after 11 p.m. one night, prompting manager Allen Lee to post a video of the kids on Facebook.

“I am asking parents again to please keep your children off the yard before they get hurt. My staff has been actively patrolling the yard and it is adding extra cost into our budget which affects all public housing tenants as I try to keep the children out,” Lee wrote.

The ages of those involved in the incidents of vandalism is unknown — and police are seeking information from anyone who knows more about the Kitikmeot Foods break-in.

Much of the reaction from posters on the Cambridge Bay Facebook news page was quick and angry: “This is getting worse every year, and the kids doing the vandalism are getting younger all the time,” said James Panioyak.

“Parents wake up and start looking after your kids, and don’t expect others to look after them for you, because one day, the kids don’t be coming home to you! Think about it seriously.”

The break-in to the elder’s camp hit people particularly hard. “This is horrible. Please for the love of God, Respect Our Elders,” wrote one woman.

“I just hope that whoever has taken them will think and return what doesn’t belong to him/her? The cycle of doing wrong has to stop somewhere and it begins with each and everyone of us not wishing and wrong with one another… hopefully together we can bring out the best in one and all,” said Julia Ogina.

Police reported earlier this year that youth had committed more than 100 acts of mischief since the beginning of 2016: 36 incidents in March, 35 in February and 42 in January — up from the same period in 2015.

The RCMP detachment is expected to deliver more recent stats June 13 in their report to the hamlet council.