Spike in assaults blamed on drugs, booze

Assaults in Nunavut's capital jumped more than 30 per cent over 2006 and that has politicians and police searching for answers.

According to RCMP figures for the first 10 months of 2007, there were 770 assaults in Iqaluit, up 31 per cent over the same period in 2006.

Iqaluit's mayor, Elisapee Sheutiapik, thinks the increase could partly be the result of a September drug bust that netted 1.6 kilograms of crack cocaine, worth about $400,000 on the street.

"I've heard that because it's such a big addiction that if [crack addicts] are not able to have [the drug] they get violent," she said.

Sgt. Kim Melenchuk, the RCMP officer who prepared those figures for Iqaluit city council last month, wouldn't attribute the spike in violence to a shortage of crack.

But he said alcohol and drugs are "the obvious cause."

"Everything is going up," Melenchuk said. "Iqaluit is getting bigger. There's more traffic here, more money, more problems."

Those figures also showed increases in drug files and total prisoners, as well as a major drop in break and enters.

One possible solution to the increase in violence, Sheutiapik said, is more anti-violence education in schools, to go along with the anti-bullying education students already receive.

"Children could be very influential in the home I think, because once they hear something at the school they tend to bring it home," she said.

Melenchuk said police are simply responding to the complaints they receive.

In order to curb the domestic violence and drunken brawls that seem to be a staple in the capital, he said police need to work with politicians, justice workers and counsellors to deal with root causes of violence.

"That's what I think everybody is hopeful for and needs is a lot of this [alcohol and drug abuse] to be addressed and maybe there won't be as much of it."

Sheutiapik and Melenchuk met for coffee last week to talk about the city's crime problems. It's a change from earlier this year when some councillors complained about what they perceived as a lack of communication with police.