Iqaluit pub owner says liquor board fines overly harsh

The Kickin’ Caribou, located in Iqaluit’s Hotel Arctic, is paying a hefty fine for over-serving alcohol and allowing intoxicated people to remain on the premises in February. (PHOTO BY STEVE DUCHARME)

Fines and suspensions handed down to Iqaluit’s Kickin’ Caribou pub for violations under their liquor license have cost the pub half of its yearly revenue and cast serious doubt on staying in the black for the near future, claims the bar’s co-owner.

The pub, located in Iqaluit’s Hotel Arctic, was found guilty Sept. 8 of violating the terms of its licence in relation to one case of over-serving alcohol and two cases of permitting over-intoxicated individuals to remain on the bar’s premises last February.

The Nunavut Liquor Licensing Board fined the bar $12,000 — $4,000 per offense — and suspended the establishment from operating on Friday, Sept 11 and the three subsequent Fridays thereafter after a show cause hearing on Sept. 8.

During that hearing, co-owner Donna Waters pleaded guilty to those charges on behalf of herself and co-owner Kim Waters, according to a Sept. 8 news release from the liquor board.

The board threw out a fourth charge relating to serving drinks beyond a specified time due to lack of evidence but it took seriously the other three.

“The Board believes that once it has granted a licence, the licencee then shares with the Board the obligation to ensure the safe and responsible use of alcohol in the community,” the liquor board’s news release said. “These contraventions constitute a clear breach of that responsibility, especially the offence of serving alcohol to persons who are already intoxicated.”

But Donna Waters believes two of those charges are for acts of compassion by the pub in dealing with two people who’d had too much to drink.

“One person came in drunk, and we didn’t serve them, and they acknowledged we didn’t serve them,” Waters told Nunatsiaq News.

“But we kept them on the premises and gave them coffee and water because we didn’t want to turn them out drunk on a February night.”

The decision by the liquor board has cast a shadow over the bar’s remaining fiscal year, said Waters.

She said most restaurant owners get by on relatively small profit margins in relation to their overhead. The cost of operating in the North she says, with added shipping charges and high rents, shrinks that margin even further.

For the Kickin’ Caribou, the final margin of profit is approximately seven cents on every dollar of revenue, she said.

“The impact will be tremendous. We are a very small business,” said Waters. “Its taking about half of all our profit for the year.”

The pub has gone through a number of internal changes in customer service and management to improve the quality of the establishment, she said.

The charges included in the board’s case against the pub are the first since early 2012, when the bar was found guilty of over-serving intoxicated patrons.

“We have served approximately 284,000 patrons in those last four years, and we’ve had one violation for over-serving and two violations for people being intoxicated on the premises,” said the co-owner.

“They are asking us to do the impossible and then penalizing us for not doing the impossible. The gave us the privilege to serve alcohol on the premises but if we ever drop the ball they come in hard.”

Under the terms of their liquor licence, it is illegal to sell alcohol to a person suspected of being intoxicated. Licensees must also adhere to serving alcoholic beverages within the specified times outlined with the board.

Under the Nunavut Liquor Act, the board can fine an offender a maximum of $5,000 per offence and suspend a licence for as long as 12 months, the liquor board’s news release said.