Summer brings trouble to Iqaluit’s Sylvia Grinnell river: RCMP

RCMP in Iqaluit say they’ve received an increase in calls to campsites along the Sylvia Grinnell river this summer – most of them alcohol-related. Police have upped their patrols of the area to help curb the problem. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

Iqaluit police, in a report to Iqaluit City Council this week, said they’ve seen an increase in calls to campsites along the Sylvia Grinnell river this summer.

That’s likely because more and more Iqaluit residents are pitching their tents along the river, within the Sylvia Grinnell park boundaries and outside its limits, RCMP Sgt. Roger Tournier told an Iqaluit city council meeting July 12.

Most of the calls are alcohol-related, Tournier said.

To curb the problem, police have stepped up their evening visits to the river.

“Members have started making more patrols of these areas,” Tournier told the July 12 meeting. “It is hoped the increased visibility will help in reducing the number of calls.”

Tournier said that with many people drinking at the river, they’re also choosing to sleep at their campsites, which cuts down on the number of potential drunk drivers in town.

Councillor Mary Ekho Wilman said it is “unfortunate” that a few people ruin the experience of others who are trying to enjoy the outdoors.

Tournier said RCMP members continue to patrol the Road to Nowhere as well, “but we haven’t have many complaints from there.”

Police kept busy during the Canada Day long weekend in Iqaluit and also during the weekend of the Alianait arts festival, which ran June 30 to July 3.

Tournier said RCMP members responded to 94 calls throughout the city that weekend, the majority of them alcohol-related.

Police also lodged 50 prisoners in RCMP cells in the same period.

Although the festival hosts alcohol-free events, Tournier said the event draws many people to the community who are in a “party mood.”

But, he added, none of the calls were directly related to the festival’s events, which he called “well-organized.”

Despite a busy start to the summer, the number of prisoners held by the Iqaluit RCMP so far in 2011 is down from this time last year.

By the end of June 2011, police counted 1,403 prisoners, down from 1,757 at the end of June 2010, Tournier said.

The RCMP report also shows that calls for service are down slightly, from 4,016 this time last year to 3,835 in 2011.

In June 2011 alone, RCMP documented 105 crimes which involved physical harm or force against another person.

The most serious of the RCMP’s cases so far in 2011: the June 7 homicide, when police discovered the bodies of Sula Enuaraq, 29 her two young daughters Alexandra and Aliyah in their Tundra Valley home. The body of her husband, Sylvain Degrasse, 44, was discovered the same day in Iqaluit’s cemetery.

“This had a major impact on our manpower and affected the entire community,” Tournier told city councillors. “On behalf of the RCMP, I would like to extend our condolences to all the family members and friends who were affected.”

But Tournier said the Iqaluit RCMP detachment’s staffing numbers remain stable – a huge improvement over past years, where the RCMP had problems attracting officers to the city.

“Iqaluit continues to be one of the most sought-after northern positions in the RCMP,” he said. “There is currently a waiting list of members wanting to transfer here.”