Kivalliq Air to scan passengers for contraband, dangerous items

John McPhee, manager of Kivalliq Air, stands next to the airline company’s new X-ray machine in Winnipeg. Passengers on Kivalliq Air will now see their baggage and cargo shipments X-rayed, part of an effort to clamp down on transports of drugs and alcohol to Kivalliq communities. (PHOTO COURTESY OF KIVALLIQ AIR)

The free ride enjoyed by passengers, especially medical travellers, who used Kivalliq Air flights to bring dope and booze from Winnipeg to communities in Nunavut is over.

As of Oct. 18, Kivalliq Air’s new $70,000 X-ray machine will be in operation at the airline’s Winnipeg hangar to inspect personal carry-ons, checked baggage and cargo.

If the scan spots something suspicious, the items will be searched.

If a passenger refuses to let a search proceed, the airline can prevent them from boarding the aircraft, said John McPhee, manager of Kivalliq Air.

The X-ray machine is the same caliber of X-ray machine used for security checks at major airports in the South.

And it’s intended to make passengers think twice before they try to bring drugs or alcohol back home with them from Winnipeg.

“The presence alone of it will be a deterrent,” McPhee said. “We don’t have the right to intercept drugs per se, but we do have a good working relationship with the RCMP. It wouldn’t be out of the question for information to get passed along.”

Staff will only search passengers if they are suspected of carrying a dangerous item, and drug searches probably can’t lead to criminal charges unless a search warrant has been obtained beforehand.

This protocol also applies to security procedures regularly carried out at Canadian airports where security officers look only for items that are forbidden by law to be carried on planes, like guns, liquids and knives.

The majority of Kivalliq Air passengers will be “understanding” about the new checks, McPhee predicted.

Before April 1, 2008 Kivalliq Air was chartered by the Government of Nunavut to carry patients in and out of the Kivalliq region, as well as Sanikiluaq, for medical treatment. Then, all bags were regularly searched in Winnipeg.

Kivalliq Air provides scheduled passenger and cargo services between all Kivalliq region communities, Sanikiluaq, Churchill and Winnipeg on a Beech 12-passenger King Air.

Most of its passengers are on GN-paid health-related trips, although a few buy their own tickets.

But when Kivalliq Air started regularly scheduled service to communities, passengers were no longer controlled, which meant the airline couldn’t search passengers’ bags or bring in drug-sniffing dogs, as it had done in the past.

Kivalliq Air decided to buy the X-ray machine after enduring more than a year of complaints that the airline’s nine scheduled flights a week served as a pipeline for drug users, drug dealers and bootleggers throughout the Kivalliq and Sanikiluaq.

If Kivalliq Air hesitated to buy the X-ray machine, it’s because its medical transport contract with the GN didn’t require or pay for the purchase of an X-ray machine.

The airline also wanted to make sure people weren’t going to go up in arms over increased security measures, McPhee said.

But when Kivalliq mayors met in Arviat last month, they passed a resolution supporting the purchase and use of the X-ray machine by Kivalliq Air.

“It’s for the communities at the request of the communities. If there’s any questioning about why we’re doing this we can refer back to the communities,” said McPhee, who was present at the mayors’ meeting.

RCMP in Sanikiluaq seized marijuana wrapped up in plastic, crack cocaine wrapped in aluminum foil, mickeys of rum and plastic-wrapped packets of cocaine last year from passengers on Kivalliq Air flights.

These kinds of items, and more, will all be revealed by the new X-ray machine.

“There are may other avenues for shipping things into the region but this probably was the most convenient. There are other holes that will still need to be plugged,” McPhee said.