“There are elders who are afraid of their grandchildren.”

KUUJJUARAAPIK – Nunavik needs outside government assistance to help communities resist the flood of bootleg alcohol and fight rising levels of violence, say regional councillors from the Kativik Regional Government.

"There are elders who are afraid of their grandchildren," Robbie Tookalook, who is also the mayor of Umiujaq, said at last week's council meeting in Kuujjuraapik. "We are not able to deal with the issue as a society."

Paulusie Padlayat, acting regional councillor from Salluit, told councillors he's worried about what will happen when people in his community start to receive big profit-sharing cheques from Xstrata's Raglan Mine.

Salluit's municipal council wants to see more police constables on hand to deal with mayhem expected when residents suddenly have thousands of dollars to spend on booze and drugs.

Salluit residents decided to forgo investing their $14 million share of annual profit-sharing from Xstrata into infrastructure like a fire engine or helicopter in favour of cash payouts.

The cash payouts, which are taxable, can cause payments to those on welfare to be cut off if they can't prove they invested money on items like furniture or a vehicle.

Adult beneficiaries of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement who reside in Salluit will receive $15,000 each – their personal share of the profit-sharing deal with the nearby nickel mine, which sent $32.4 million to Nunavik this year.

Minors will receive $3,500 each. This means many families stand to receive more than $50,000.

Some plan to open accounts at the new Nunavik Financial Services branch in the community or put their money into retirement or education savings plans.

But others may plunk their cash down on booze and drugs.

Last year, a mickey of spirits reportedly sold for as much as $500 when profit-sharing money was circulating in Salluit.

Many other regional councillors echoed Padlayat's concerns about the social and economic burden of drugs and alcohol in Nunavik during a discussion about bootlegging during the regional council meeting.

During the item on bootlegging, which was added to the agenda by Kuujjuaq's regional councillor and mayor Larry Watt, councillors said they want more police presence in the communities and more control over alcohol sales and shipments to communities.

Watt pointed to the lethal combination of guns and alcohol, which has led to many firearms offenses in the last weeks. He also said alcohol is responsible for the neglect of many Kuujjuaq children.

Muncy Novalinga, the acting regional councillor and mayor of Puvirnituq, says alcohol is tearing apart his community of 1,500, where there have been five suicides so far this year. One was his 16-year-old son.

Alcohol is more to blame than drugs for Puvirnituq's current crisis, Novalinga says.

It's the worst Novalinga has seen since the early 1990s, when suicides and revelations of widespread sexual abuse caused Quebec to spend millions on emergency interventions.

"We need help," Novalinga told the regional council meeting.

Novalinga says he wants to get tough on bootleggers, so he can protect women and children against the damage caused by what he calls the "big business" of bootlegging.

Johnny Oovaut, a member of the KRG executive and mayor of Quaqtaq, also says he's fed up and may push for a mayors' meeting to deal with bootlegging.

"People are coming to our communities just to sell alcohol, and it's not easy to see something like that because our families are affected by alcohol," he told the council meeting.