Changes coming to regional airport security following Cambridge Bay attacks
Residents share concerns, hear ideas to improve community safety at town hall meeting
About 90 residents of Cambridge Bay, many expressing fear and anxiety, attend Monday’s town hall meeting to discuss improvements to emergency communication tools, including the Alert Ready system, and the introduction of a new community safety liaison role. The meeting followed a July 8 assault that left two men hospitalized in Edmonton. (Photo courtesy of Kitikmeot Inuit Association)
Cambridge Bay’s mayor says people might be “startled” by changes coming to airport security for some regional flights in the wake of recent brutal assaults in the hamlet.
Three men face multiple charges, including aggravated assault, forcible confinement, and trafficking of a controlled substance after a July 8 incident that left two men in an Edmonton hospital and a community in fear. A fourth man faces two assault charges.
The victims were allegedly tied up, beaten with hammers and scalded with boiling water. Rumours flew after the assault about an armed threat in the community and potential lockdown.
Supt. Kent Pike, centre, speaks as Pam Gross, left and RCMP Sgt. Beth Phillip listen during a Monday night town hall meeting in Cambridge Bay to address public safety concerns in the community. (Photo courtesy of Kitikmeot Inuit Association)
Mayor Wayne Gregory, Cambridge Bay MLA Pamela Gross and RCMP Supt. Kent Pike hosted a town hall meeting Monday at Luke Novoligak Community Hall, where people shared their concerns and leaders put forward ideas for improving safety.
One of the major issues is a lack of security for regional flights, such as those between Yellowknife and Cambridge Bay.
Gregory said he had conversations with Yellowknife Mayor Ben Hendriksen and Crown–Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty — who previously held Yellowknife’s mayoral post — about drugs entering the Kitikmeot Region from the N.W.T.’s capital.
“Things that [people] would be able to do in the past in order to get things here, those avenues will be all cut off,” Gregory said.
He didn’t reveal any details of these potential security changes, or when they might take effect.
The roughly 90 community members at the meeting expressed “fear and anxiety,” Gregory said.
One change coming to Cambridge Bay will be the implementation of an Alert Ready system, which sends emergency alerts to phones, TVs, and radios.
“We’ll be doing a test of the system this Friday afternoon so that people know what to expect and can recognize an official message,” Gregory said.
Gregory noted that he happened to be at the RCMP detachment when people posted false information on social media July 8 about an armed person and a community-wide lockdown. He said he couldn’t immediately debunk the rumour because nothing had been verified.
“That’s where a lot of the public anxiety came from — people were hearing rumours, seeing posts on social media, and wondering, ‘Why isn’t the hamlet saying anything?'” Gregory said.
“The truth is, we can only share what the RCMP confirms.”
Other initiatives discussed were the possibility of organizing Citizens on Patrol or community-based policing, and occasionally using an RCMP drug detection dog in the hamlet.
Cambridge Bay is one of seven Nunavut communities hiring a community safety liaison co-ordinator, a pilot program launched this year by the Nunavut Association of Municipalities.
Gregory acknowledged the presence of hard drugs in the community and encouraged residents to be alert and tell police about suspicious activity.
“We are aware of it, it comes in waves and is not a new thing,” Gregory said.
He added that people can also contact the Crime Stoppers hotline 1-800-TIPS to remain anonymous if they prefer.
“The smaller the community and as the territory grows with new people coming in, it’s not a question of if something like this will happen again somewhere in the territory, it’s when,” Gregory said.
“Sometimes people will see something a little out of character, it is important to pass that information along. That might be the missing piece that the RCMP are looking for.”
Three of the suspects involved in the assault— Hadi Alhashesh, 19, of Chilliwack, B.C.; Ly Gabriel Galido, 22, and Ayaan Kamran Warsi, 18, both of Edmonton — are in custody.
Sad thing is that security measures are often reactive and not proactive. The community airports don’t do security screening (probably due to size and staffing constraints), but if violence acts were to happen during a flight with something that would not be allowed (firearm, knife, etc.), watch security start to be enforced… Sad people need to get harmed before change often happens. (This is often the case in many areas, not just Nunavut.)
I don’t think that’s possible without renovating the Yellowknife Airport.
Blaming lax airport security for a brutal but isolated drug-fueled in-town assault is a stretch. Arctic flight exemption from southern-style travel security is a signature of the region. Such measures bring no assurance of stopping the drug trade but will increase travel costs, slow boardings, ban travel with firearms, sharp tools (e.g. knitting needles), liquids, many types of prepared country foods, and the easy transport of dog teams. It will change how things are done in the North. Be careful what you wish for.
Sadly for years illegal drugs have been going into communities, there have been drug dealers who have been caught in the past. Even if someone knows who is bringing these drugs, local authories were informed but nothing is being done about it. It took this tragedy to take action, have a town meeting to hear people’s concerns. Isn’t the MLA’s supposed to plan informative gatherings whenever the legislative is on breaks?
That is some sound measures going to be implemented ! Screening passengers is just a start for safer air travel, too much bootleggers bring in alcohol to communities , this is no lawful way to bring in booze except by carry on bahs as with cocaine amd crack amd not legal drugs you can order from a dispensary .
Not very creative are you?