Door open for beer-wine stores in Nunavut: liquor minister

Cambridge Bay MLA Keith Peterson, who is also Nunavut’s finance minister, justice minister and minister responsible for the Nunavut Liquor Commission, in his Cambridge Bay office Oct. 3. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

CAMBRIDGE BAY—Yes, Cambridge Bay and Rankin Inlet, you could have a beer and wine store just like the one the Government of Nunavut plans for Iqaluit.

But there’s a process to follow.

That’s the word from Cambridge Bay MLA Keith Peterson, who is also the minister responsible for Nunavut’s liquor commission.

In an April 2015 plebiscite, eligible voters in Iqaluit said yes to the idea of a strictly controlled wine and beer store in their city.

“We’re moving forward on Iqaluit—that’s a pilot project—and we’ll monitor the result, but that doesn’t stop people in Cambridge Bay or Rankin Inlet if they were to go to their hamlet council and someone was to initiate a petition under the Liquor Act.”

In Cambridge Bay, you can now order alcohol, without restrictions, as long as you have a permit issued by a local contractor.

But the Hamlet of Cambridge Bay, which is worried about the rising level of alcohol linked offences, wants the Nunavut Liquor Commission to take over issuing liquor permits—and at a September meeting councillors also raised the possibility of opening a beer and wine store in this town of roughly 1,700 people.

The beer-wine store idea has been kicking around for years in Cambridge Bay, where people still recall the “beer line” sales at the Hudson Bay Co. in the 1970s and 1980s.

But Kitikmeot consumers have been grumbling even more since April 1, 1999, when Nunavut was created. That’s because, since the creation of Nunavut, they have had to pay more than ever for alcohol orders.

People in western Nunavut, who used to order alcohol in from Yellowknife before 1999, then had get import permits before ordering from the Northwest Territories or pay more to ship their booze from Iqaluit or Rankin Inlet.

Many Cambridge Bay residents then lobbied for a liquor store that would serve the Kitikmeot region. Under a scheme proposed by some residents, every bottle or can sold would bear a special mark on them.

And each adult would receive a permit card that would allow the purchase of a 26-ounce bottle of liquor, one dozen cans of beer and two bottles of wine a week.

An in-store computer scanning system would help prevent any abuse of the system.

In 2006, Michelle Gillis campaigned— and won the election—on a liquor store opening in Cambridge Bay.

But, to open a beer-wine store, people in Cambridge Bay will have to start and then sign a petition.

With a minimum of 20 signatories, this petition can then go to the liquor commission and, after that, to cabinet for a recommendation.

If approved, then a date would be set for a plebiscite to seek the response of registered municipal voters to a clear question on the issue.

“I’m not going to tell them what they should do,” said Peterson. “I would probably recommend proceeding. They can ask for what they want.”

In Cambridge Bay, there’s no liquor warehouse, as in Iqaluit or Rankin Inlet, so to establish this would require another process, he said.

As for the transfer of responsibility for the issuing of liquor permits to the GN, Peterson said his department has received a letter from the hamlet and heard its concerns.

“We want to make sure the process is serving the people and is not circumvented,” said Peterson, also Nunavut’s justice minister, who added that the RCMP does keep on eye on permitting in the territory, even when it’s not overseen by the GN, as is the case in Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet.

While in Cambridge Bay this week, Peterson also plans to meet with the hamlet council—as well as with other groups, including the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, whose annual general meeting gets underway Oct. 4.