Western Nunavut community seeks fix for youth vandalism

Hamlet of Cambridge Bay recreation and maintenance staff who built the new half-pipe for the community’s youth work on the structure. From left to right: Wade Moore, Ches Pye, Hillary Aknavigak, Richard Webster, Zachary Townsend, and Kevin Evetalegak. (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HAMLET OF CAMBRIDGE BAY)

Under clear, sunny skies, swimmers in Cambridge Bay head into the waters by the community to raise money for a new recreational complex. (PHOTO BY JEANNIE EVALIK)

After Cambridge Bay’s new half-pipe opened Aug. 7 nearby the community’s outdoor basketball court, kids on bikes couldn’t wait to test the curves.

But can this new place for kids to bike, skateboard and burn off energy serve to reduce the amount of youth vandalism in Cambridge Bay?

That’s the hope of Cambridge Bay’s senior administrative officer, Stephen King.

A similar structure went up in Taloyoak in 2007 and had an immediate effect on reducing vandalism, he told Nunatsiaq News.

“Hopefully, the kids enjoy it and keep interested in it for years to come,” he said.

The inauguration of the new attraction in Cambridge Bay followed several incidents involving youth vandalism this past summer — a recent incident causing thousands of dollars of damages to the recently-closed youth group home.

“So even though we had the half-pipe in the works for a while now and it was not built as a reaction to the vandalism, we hope that it is another activity for the kids which will help to curb the vandalism,” King said.

But the trashing of the group home wasn’t the worst or most costly incident of youth-related vandalism to take place this past summer — that goes to the oil spill which took place in June when youth turned opened the valve on a container, which held up about 11,000 litres of waste oil in the Kitnuna Corp. yard — and then walked away as the oil spilled down the hill and into the bay.

Many in the community of 1,500 have called for the hiring of another bylaw officer who to work during the night.

“We are trying to get one for the summer, but have not been successful yet. With that being said, the bylaw officer is available on call 24 hours a day and he may be on patrol at any given time. We do not have enough resources for two full-time bylaw employees,” King said.

But some in Cambridge Bay believe more enforcement isn’t the whole answer, and they’re asking parents to play a larger role in keeping the community safe.

“Traditionally the children should be grounded by the parent or house arrest for few days to think about what they did to the community,” said a commenter on a Cambridge Bay Facebook news page.

“Parents if your children are out late at night or early morning they are most likely involved in the vandalism around town. Nothing good happens between 10 pm and 7 am. Keep your kids at home,” said another.

Other examples of vandalism which took place this past summer include a rash of broken windows at the Kiilinik High School, littering of printing paper outside near Nunavut Arctic College and damage to the community playgrounds.

“I was walking home this morning from [a] cardgame,i couldn’t recognize who they were. there were about 4 kids, crazy just like trying to start a fire too or something.parents should always know where your children are, getting scary around here,” a commenter said.

People in the community are eager for a planned new multiplex recreational centre to open up.

To move that project along, nearly 20 hardy residents of Cambridge Bay, including Nunavut MLA and minister Keith Peterson, jumped into the waters in front of the community Aug. 9 in their annual “polar bear” swim, this time held as a fundraiser for the new recreational complex.

Their effort raised $3,000.