Nunavut set to open beer-wine store in Iqaluit in 2017

Keith Peterson, responsible for the Nunavut Liquor Commission, said Nov. 6 in Nunavut’s legislature that the GN will open a beer and wine store in Iqaluit in 2017. (FILE PHOTO)

An Iqaluit beer and wine store will open next year, the Government of Nunavut announced Nov. 8 in the Legislative Assembly in Iqaluit.

Keith Peterson, minister responsible for the Nunavut Liquor Commission, made the announcement while answering a question from Iqaluit-Niaqunnguu MLA Pat Angnakak.

“When will the government be respecting the results of the plebiscite in 2015 and be opening a beer and wine store?” Angnakak asked on the last day of the fall 2017 sitting.

Nearly 80 per cent of those who voted in the 2015 plebiscite voted in favour of a beer and wine store in Iqaluit.

“I can share with Ms. Angnakak and the public that the government is making significant progress in opening a beer and wine store in 2017,” Peterson said.

Angnakak asked Peterson what factors contributed to the delay in opening the store.

Peterson responded by raising an issue many critics of the store have voiced: the lack of addictions treatment facilities in Iqaluit or anywhere else in Nunavut.

“The fact of the matter is we can’t afford to open a treatment centre in Nunavut. But our cabinet, cognizant of concerns in Iqaluit and elsewhere, have directed some of our departments to develop an action plan on how we can work together to help people who have problems handling alcohol responsibly,” said Peterson.

The minister added that he would table that action plan, which he did later the same day.

After the 2015 plebiscite, the GN announced it would open a beer and wine store in Iqaluit as a three-year pilot project.

Following the announcement, the GN held a public consultation in Iqaluit, which drew a lot of concerns and fears linking alcohol use to crime and fatalities.

One of the biggest critics of the pilot project has been Iqaluit-Sinaa MLA Paul Okalik, a former minister, who resigned from cabinet in opposition to the project.

Okalik explained that he resigned on principle because addictions treatment is non-existent in Nunavut

“I’m not opposed to a liquor store per se. But we need to have supports in place to prevent so much abuse of alcohol,” the former premier said.

Okalik called on the GN and Nunavut’s land claim organization to hold more consultations on the topic before the pilot project moves ahead—something neither organization followed up on.

With Okalik as premier, the government pledged $2.2-million to re-open the Apex addictions treatment centre in 2003, but those efforts failed.

Some in Cambridge Bay and Rankin Inlet have also expressed interest in seeing a local beer and wine store open in their communities.