Rankin Inlet on track to have beer and wine store open this year
COVID-19 creating hurdles and uncertainty in planning process
Rankin Inlet should have a beer and wine store by the end of the year. It will offer the same products as Iqaluit’s store: beer, wine, cider and coolers. (Photo by Meagan Deuling)
(Updated, 3:10 p.m.)
Rankin Inlet should have a beer and wine store open by the end of 2020.
The plan is to renovate the current liquor warehouse, which is attached to the Siniktarvik Hotel.
“It actually used to be a RadioShack, I believe,” said Dan Young, the director of Nunavut’s Liquor and Cannabis Commission. “It is well set up for the public.”
The exterior of the building won’t change, but the inside will be renovated—the walls, fixtures, counter and computer systems have to be built.
NULC is working with Nunavut’s Department of Community and Government Services on a request for proposals for this work. It’s unclear when this will be posted.
There is also a request for proposal out for a new warehouse in Rankin Inlet, to replace the one where the store is being built, and to account for the higher volume of alcohol that will be stored in the community when the store opens.
The RFP closes on June 16, and 17 companies have so far registered to bid for the job. The tender says the warehouse must be ready for occupation “on or within 30 days of July 1.”
Right now the Government of Nunavut’s Human Resources Department is finalizing job descriptions for the new store.
The hope is to hire nine new people in Rankin Inlet, Young said, including managers, administrators and cashiers.
The store will operate “very, very much like the operations of the store in Iqaluit,” Young said. “There’s a single file line. You go to one of our tills. You’re handed your product and you leave.”
George Hickes, the minister responsible for the NULC, said in the legislative assembly in February that the store would open in 2020.
Between the ransomware attack at the end of 2019 and the ongoing pandemic, Young said that the NULC has faced “hurdles” in keeping that promise.
“We are experiencing some delays so the date could be pushed later, but right now we are planning [for] 2020,” Young said.
A key part of the store opening as planned is securing the warehouse space, Young said. He added that they’re having “a little bit of issues” with “players and partners outside of government” working from home and not being available, which accounts for delays and uncertainty.
In May 2017, 372 people in Rankin Inlet voted in favour of the store opening, and 127 voted no.
There were 1,311 people on the voter list, out of a population of nearly 3,000.
Turnout was 38 per cent. Of those who voted, 75 per cent were in favour.
Iqaluit’s beer and wine store opened in September 2017 and is nearing the end of its three year pilot project. Young said they wanted to wait and work out any kinks in the Iqaluit store’s operation before opening more stores.
The Rankin Inlet store is independent of any decision about Iqaluit’s beer and wine store. “The residents of Rankin Inlet voted in favour of a store, regardless of anything that happens in Iqaluit,” he said.
In terms of the store’s effect on the public in Iqaluit, Young said the NULC finished a report, partly based on results from a public survey, partly based on feedback from different government departments and other organizations, and sent it off to Hickes for him to make a call on whether or not the store will stay open.
“There’s not going to be any major changes as a result of that [report],” Young said, “because we’ve been making changes all along.”
One change was allowing more flexibility in the total number of beer, wine and coolers someone can buy per day, while another was offering ciders and coolers as well as beer and wine.
When the Iqaluit store first opened there were about 10 or 12 employees, Young said. “Now we’ve got over 30 approved positions once the [new] store opens.”
Young said the NULC met with Rankin Inlet’s senior administrative officer at the end of 2019, and later met with hamlet councillors to answer questions and address concerns.
“They were overall very supportive of having a store open,” Young said.
Rankin Inlet’s mayor hadn’t responded to a request for comment from Nunatsiaq News by our publication deadline.
Young said he didn’t know how much the renovations to the current warehouse, acquisition of a new warehouse, and hiring of employees will cost.
They’re working with Community and Government Services to figure that out, he said, but won’t know how much the warehouse will cost until the RFP closes.
He expects it to be cheaper than Iqaluit’s store, because it’s not being built from scratch.
Cambridge Bay next in line
Residents of Cambridge Bay voted 83.1 per cent in support of a beer and wine store in 2017, at the same time as residents of Rankin Inlet voted.
Young said that after the Rankin Inlet store opens, the NULC will “adjust and grow our organization appropriately” and shift focus to Cambridge Bay.
The Rankin and Cambridge beer and wine stores are not pilot projects, Young said. But they are government-run and subject to the will of elected officials.
without a rehab center?
And , no Mc Donalds
The moral panic is setting in now! How can we sell beer *gasp* without a rehab center! The sky will surely fall in Rankin.
With good reason, violence, broken families, huge alcohol issue and adding to that easier access to more alcohol.
It’s not going to hold the sky up that’s for sure.
I hope it will be monitored carefully, with reports from RCMP, there is enough problems in the community with alcohol, violence, property damage, DUI and so on.
It’s a pilot project, these reports will be important to make a informed decision, I just hope the hamlet council will review the reports and make the proper request to the GN in a year or two.
Best of luck.
This isn’t a pilot project…. The one in Iqaluit was a pilot project for 3 years and since it worked is now transitioning to a permanent business facility.
Rankin’s will start as a permanent business facility (there is NO pilot time frame – it is opening permanently).
Finally moving forward. Boohoo to the 20 naysayers – as shown by public voting – get over it.
Interesting, each region and each community is different, big mistake to brush Rankin in the same brush when it has its own issues with alcohol.
It will be a rough start when there is no real support for addiction and mental health centres.
Best of luck with all that.
I’m in favour of beer and wine stores, but sometimes you just have to shake your head at government.
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“[Dan Young] expects it to be cheaper than Iqaluit’s store, because it’s not being built from scratch”. Yet, they need to build or lease a new liquor warehouse in Rankin whereas the store in Iqaluit was an addition on the existing warehouse. Is the new warehouse build or present value of the lease incorporated into that statement about it being cheaper than Iqaluit’s store?
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It was previously said that Rankin would be next to have a store before Cambridge Bay because they already have an existing warehouse, yet now it effectively seems like they don’t because they have an RFP out for a new one. Really would’ve been no different than putting out an RFP for a combined warehouse/store in Cambridge Bay, no?
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Also in typical government procurement fashion, take years to make plans and then put out an RFP that closes on June 16th for a new warehouse must be available within 30 days of July 1. No time to acquire a land lease, no time to get a shipment of construction materials for a build/reno, no time to construct or renovate a warehouse especially if bringing in workers through a 2 week quarantine period. Government procurement is supposed to be done so that it is fair, open, and transparent. Is it really fair and open if you’re only leaving opportunity for those few with readily available resources on hand? The answer is no.
This is how they do it, dry communities start opening alcohol, they’ll start being open too. More into communities bigger population
You’ll e soooooreeee! Good luck to all my friends in Rankin. The crime rate has gone up here in Iqaluit. Read the recent RCMP report to the council.
Paul. I thought the Iqaluit council did not receive the full report but went ahead with some council members still voting to be in favor of the B&W store to continue?
I thought that was not in the best interest for the community without reviewing the full report.
I believe the mayor broke the tie in supporting the B&W store in Iqaluit, My question is, was there any conflict on the Mayor’s vote as he worked or works for the GN liquor who did the consultations?
No one seems to know.
The mayor resigned his position with the Department of Finance after taking office.
Yes he did resign , but he did work on getting the b&w store and did the community consultations.
Seems like it could be some conflict to some degree.
It was expected from the onset that crime rates would increase in the short term, mainly from public drunkenness.
This is accepted as necessary to change consumption patterns in the long term.
Nobody expected this years-long process to be painless.
The bigger picture with being able to access alcohol easier, where is the plans to offset the social issues that come with easier access to alcohol?
What is the timeline To change this consumption pattern and what is in place to help change this?
All we see is a easier access to alcohol and no real plans in place but just hoping things will improve on their own all the while we see more public drunkenness, fights and broken home’s.
It would be nice to see the bigger picture and plans to combat the social issues that come with this store.
There is no plan in place to combat the social issues that come from this beer and wine store.
They are hoping things will improve on their own with no research or studies to back that up.
In reality it will get worse and when it hits a certain point of terrible that is when work will be done to try and combat the issues that come with easy access to alcohol.
yeah more drunk drivers
People in Rankin laugh about how many times they’ve been busted for drinking and driving and get away with it.
So with a beer & wine store and marijuana stores coming to communities, lets start looking to open bars in the other regional hubs. Why does Iqaluit get them and Rankin Inlet can’t?
Lets have Rankin restaurants be able to serve wine and beer with food. Rankin needs to start pushing these things – The public will be behind these (well other then the couple of super outspoken idiots that always spoil it for the majority, you know the same few that attend every public hearing and scream that they hate everything and are anti-everything)… Lets start another plebiscite for beer/wine service in the food industry. Someone go to Nunavut elections and get a plebiscite started.
Rankin is not ready for more alcohol to be served, with all the issues Rankin has with drinking, can you imagine more alcohol?
There is already so much negative with alcohol in Rankin I can’t see this being a positive especially with little to no support for treatment or mental health.
Why get a beer & wine store when our elders shelter should be thought of in the 1st place? We have enough elders down south that want to be home in the north, too many people with addictions that can’t even handle a night out
I don’t know if you are paying attention or not, maybe not, but they will be building an elders center in Rankin Inlet soon. Though it has been delayed due to coronavirus. Either way, this isn’t an either or proposition.
So Kangirsliniq is going to booze up and get a store. The whole north will follow with the Mayors, council members leading the way. I wonder when the rehab centres are going to start being built? With no planning to build rehabs in the very near future for accommodating thousands of alcoholics across the north we are in for a stinking smelly homes of booze which children will think it’s natural air they breath at home? We choose.
It’s always the few bad apples that paint the whole community.
What percentage of alcohol drinkers commit crime? 1%, 20%, 50%? And not everyone drinks.
There are responsible adults who just want to have beer/wine without having to order and spend more money on freight.
Tip of the iceberg, there is a huge underlying problem in Nunavut, residential school trauma, mental health issues, not enough support for the social and health issues.
With more access this will fuel the crimes and so on when there is no help or support to change things for the better.
Drowning in alcohol and ignoring this will not make it better or make it go away.