Nunavut government jumps into bar’s dispute with liquor board

The Kickin’ Caribou pub in Iqaluit is appealing several Liquor Act infractions from September 2015. (FILE PHOTO)

Iqaluit’s Kickin’ Caribou pub will now have to deal with a third party during its ongoing legal dispute with the Nunavut Liquor Licensing Board — the Government of Nunavut.

A GN lawyer appeared at the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit Jan. 11 seeking a “motion for intervention” in the civil case between the local bar and the territory’s liquor board.

The Kickin’ Caribou is currently appealing $12,000 worth of fines —and four days of license suspensions— levied on the restaurant in September.

“This is a motion to ask the court for leave for intervention in the matter… both parties have consented to this motion,” said GN lawyer Joseph Marin.

“We are going to be an intervenor in this matter.”

The motion suggests the GN is entering new details for consideration.

Last year, Nunavut’s Liquor Licensing Board found the bar guilty in one case of over-serving alcohol and two cases of permitting over-intoxicated individuals to remain on its premises.

The bar was fined $4,000 for each offense.

It was also suspended from serving alcohol for four subsequent Fridays, as of Sept. 11.

But the court granted the owners a stay pending their appeal and only one Friday suspension was ever served.

Kickin’ Caribou owner Donna Waters told Nunatsiaq News last September it was unfair to be fined for what she deemed “acts of compassion.”

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

“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 civil case between the restaurant and the liquor board is expected to continue after the three parties meet privately.