Cambridge Bay residents invited to talk public safety at town hall meeting
RCMP superintendent, Cambridge Bay MLA to take questions after violent incident rocked hamlet last week
Cambridge Bay MLA Pamela Gross is planning to host a town hall meeting Monday at the hamlet’s Luke Novoligak Community Hall at 7 p.m. for residents to voice their concerns over public safety. The event follows a violent incident last week in Cambridge Bay. (File photo)
People in Cambridge Bay are invited to a town hall meeting Monday evening to voice their concerns about public safety in the hamlet.
The meeting follows an alleged July 8 assault that sent two men, Nathan Angulalik, 28, and Angus Kaosoni, in his 20s, to hospital in Edmonton.
Family members say the pair were tied up, beaten, and scalded with boiling water by a group of men they allege are drug dealers.
Police confirmed Friday they had charged four men in connection with the assault.
Three of them were also charged with trafficking in a controlled substance.
“This is about listening to the community,” said Cambridge Bay MLA Pamela Gross in a Facebook post inviting people to the event. “Please join us tonight to share your ideas and concerns about public safety in our beautiful community.”
The event is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. at Luke Novoligak Community Hall.
RCMP Supt. Kent Pike is scheduled to address community questions. Gross and hamlet officials will also be present at the meeting.
Three of the suspects — Hadi Alhashesh, 19, of Chilliwack, B.C.; Ly Gabriel Galido, 22, and Ayaan Kamran Warsi, 18, both of Edmonton — face multiple charges, including aggravated assault, forcible confinement, and trafficking in a controlled substance.
A fourth man, 19-year-old Joshua MacPherson of Cambridge Bay, faces two counts of assault and was released ahead of a September court appearance.
Speaking about Cambridge Bay RCMP’s response to the incident, Pike said he had “no concerns with the work done.”
“We have four people charged and in my opinion, the members did excellent work here,” he said Monday in an interview.
“With the challenges they were faced with, to then still uncover suspects and effect an arrest, I feel Cambridge Bay RCMP responded to the expectations of any police here in Nunavut when a complaint is received.”
Still, Pike acknowledged the growing fears around drug-related violence in the hamlet but cautioned against premature conclusions about organized crime in the region.
“The names of the people charged were released and they’re not names from Cambridge Bay. It’s people from outside the territory. You can take that for what it’s worth,” he said.
Pike also acknowledged concerns that there is a lack of airport security for flights within the North but said that fixing this is “beyond RCMP control and beyond territories’ control.”
“If it’s something within our realm that we can do to help mitigate, eliminate or combat these issues, we’re certainly going to do it as long as it’s in our purview,” he said, while emphasizing the importance of community involvement in helping to deter these incidents. “One of the main reasons I’m here today is to be part of the town hall where every community member can come and express their concerns and ask questions,” Pike said.
— With files from Jorge Antunes
Koana for the meeting.
You want actions how community works , people from the community will have to developed a small group to deal with this before and incidence happen to be known as slow as RCMP is slow in every community to be reached and calling at alot does not answer either,
Life or death happens due to no answers of help ringing and ringing,
Each community needs minimum 4 stations or higher as more and more booze and druggers are effecting in incidence of news related we hear ,
Our Government knows movement asii but courts big businesses up north with homeless and agree immigrants ,
Start up a public men’s group to attend before incidents approach them to talk to drunk or not ,
Don’t agree with them ever .
Blind man future