Ravages of alcohol on full display in Kuujjuaq court

An afternoon at the Kuujjuaq courthouse shows the courts are routinely packed with offenders who need help tackling severe addictions and anger problems. (FILE PHOTO)

KUUJJUAQ — The pain and remorse that alcohol causes in Nunavik was on full display at the Kuujjuaq courthouse last week, on a typical afternoon session of the travelling court.

If it wasn’t for booze, for example, Aloupa Kauki, 27, of Kuujjuaq might be at home tonight with his longtime girlfriend and child.

Kauki appeared in court Sept. 14 in Kuujjuaq, where he asked Judge Richard Laflamme to grant him bail.

Kauki is alleged to have assaulted a man and stolen money on Sept. 10, when he was free on an undertaking related to a break-and-enter charge dating back to August.

A municipal employee, Kauki pleaded with the court to let him stay out of jail under more undertakings. He offered to keep a strict curfew, stay away from alcohol and he put down $500 as a guarantee for his good behaviour.

Kauki said he knows he has a problem with alcohol and anger.

“It’s when I’m intoxicated that I get dangerous,” he told the court.

Kauki completed a treatment cycle at Kuujjuaq’s Isuarsivik treatment centre earlier this year. After finishing the program, he went regularly to the Qajaq men’s centre for help.

Then, his sister committed suicide, the centre closed down due to lack of money, and he started drinking again.

Kauki said he’s ready to go back to Isuarsivik for another treatment cycle next month.

The prosecution argued that Kauki is at a high risk for reoffending — and Judge Laflamme agreed.

Laflamme told Kauki that the charges against him were serious.

And he said Kauki, who faces many charges listed in 13 other files before the court, had also amassed a “remarkable” number of prior convictions, of which 22 were related to breach of conditions.

Most were also connected to alcohol, Laflamme noted.

“Obviously, you have a drinking problem,” he told Kauki.

In the end, Laflamme said Kauki will stay in jail until the assault case comes up in court.

Kauki left the courtroom just as he had arrived, shuffling out in handcuffs and leg shackles.

Another man, who pleaded guilty to sexual assault and forcible confinement, ended up with a 12-month conditional sentence that he will serve in his Kuujjuaq residence.

Unemployed at 24, with only a Grade Six education, E.P. (identified by his initials here to protect the identity of his female victim,) will spend his sentence at an overcrowded family home, where nine other relatives live.

He’ll leave only to attend meetings, go to appointments or perform community service. He can’t drink or take any drugs that aren’t prescribed by a doctor.

E.P.’s crime? While drunk at a house party, he assaulted a 14-year-old while she was going to the bathroom.

He groped at her genitals, then tried to pull down her underpants and pin her on the floor.

The girl managed to fight him off.

E.P., whom his lawyer Denis Trottier described as extremely remorseful and ashamed, had never before been charged with a criminal offense.

E.P., a regular pot smoker, wants to undergo alcohol and drug treatment at Isuarsivik, Trottier said.

Laflamme told E.P. he should get a handle on his drinking and drug use, or he will likely end up back in court and be sent to jail.

If E.S. breaks any of the many conditions of his one-year sentence, that’s what will happen, Laflamme warned him.

Another Kuujjuaq man, C.S., aged 22, assaulted his common-law wife while she lay in bed with their one-month old baby.

He pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm.

With four previous convictions of assault against the same woman, C.S. nevertheless received a fourth-month conditional jail sentence, with strict conditions, which he will serve at home while living with the victim of his violence.

Thomassie Snowball, 43, a father of five who drove his snowmobile into a snow bank last March while intoxicated, also faces jail time (the details of which are not yet available

Snowball, a self-described alcoholic, had nine previous convictions for impaired driving. His lawyer said he wanted to go into treatment.

It’s not only Inuit who are affected by the easy availability of alcohol in Kuujjuaq.

A newcomer to Kuujjuaq, Denis Pagé, 42, faced charges related to drunk driving and assaults, in which he spat in the face of a constable with the Kativik Regional Police Force.

Pagé received a five-month jail sentence.

“You came to Kuujjuaq for a better life, but you are leaving and going to jail. That isn’t much of an advancement, is it?” Laflamme told Pagé before the guards led him off.