Western Nunavut hub moves closer to beer-wine store vote in 2017

A plebiscite on whether to establish a beer-wine store in Cambridge Bay is set to take place in April 2017. (FILE PHOTO)

(Updated at 5:15 p.m.)

If you live in the western Nunavut town of Cambridge Bay and you’re an eligible municipal voter, you will get a chance to vote next April in a plebiscite to decide if a beer and wine store should open in this community of about 1,700 people.

The hamlet received a petition Oct. 24, signed by 42 members of the community, who said: “I hereby sign this petition as a request to the Hamlet of Cambridge Bay to proceed to work with the Government of Nunavut on the possibility of opening a beer and wine store.”

A motion of council, made that same day, said that hamlet council acknowledges and supports “the petition for a beer and wine store in the community of Cambridge Bay and asks the Government of Nunavut to commence with the process of holding a plebiscite as soon as possible.”

A letter was then sent Oct. 25 to Cambridge Bay MLA Keith Peterson, who is also minister responsible for Nunavut’s liquor commission, to ask for a plebiscite.

“We received a letter back from Minister Peterson stating that they will ‘begin the process to hold a plebiscite as soon as possible,'” Cambridge Bay’s senior administrative officer, Marla Limousin, told Nunatsiaq News.

The exact date of the plebiscite, set to take place in April 2017, has not yet been confirmed, she said.

But the idea of a beer-wine store, brought up earlier this year at hamlet council, has been discussed for years in Cambridge Bay.

In Cambridge Bay, you can now order alcohol, without restrictions, as long as you have a permit issued by a local contractor.

But many people in town still recall the “beer line” sales at the Hudson Bay Co. during the 1970s and 1980s.

Consumers there grumbled even more since April 1, 1999, when Nunavut was created, because after the creation of Nunavut, they have had to pay more than ever for alcohol orders.

They used to order alcohol from Yellowknife before 1999, but as part of Nunavut, they have had to obtain import permits before ordering from the Northwest Territories or pay more to ship their orders from Iqaluit or Rankin Inlet.

Many Cambridge Bay residents then lobbied for a liquor store that would serve the Kitikmeot region. Under a scheme proposed by some residents, every bottle or can sold would bear a special mark on them.

And each adult would receive a permit card that would allow the purchase of a 26-ounce bottle of liquor, one dozen cans of beer and two bottles of wine a week.

An in-store computer scanning system would help prevent any abuse of the system.

In 2006, Michelle Gillis campaigned as mayor— and won the election—on a liquor store opening in Cambridge Bay.

Jeannie Ehaloak, now mayor of Cambridge Bay, told Nunatsiaq News the store currently under consideration would sell only beer and wine—not spirits, such as vodka.

And she said she is unsure at this time whether if the purchase of beer and wine at a store would take place daily, weekly or how much people would be able to purchase.

Iqaluit residents said yes in April 2015 to the idea of a strictly controlled wine and beer store in their community.

The proposed outlet would require residents to set up a permanent account at the store through which they can make a daily purchase of one case of 12 beers and two bottles of wine.

In Cambridge Bay, there’s no liquor warehouse, as in Iqaluit or Rankin Inlet, so another process would be required to establish one.