Less talk, more action needed on Iqaluit beer and wine store
Local politicians grasp at straws in bid to make city safer while nothing changes
A sign warning people against consuming alcohol in public, stands in front of the Beer and Wine Store in Iqaluit. (Photo by Daron Letts)
Close the beer and wine store if you must, but it’s time for Iqaluit city council to do something instead of talking about doing something to address the violence and public drunkenness.
Asking the Government of Nunavut to close the store is the latest suggestion to a problem councillors have complained about for years.
“I’ve heard people talking about the problem of alcohol,” Coun. Methusalah Kunuk said at Tuesday’s meeting. Councillors yet again bemoaned the violence and public drunkenness they say is connected to the beer and wine store.
Yeah. Everyone has. Over and over.
Coun. Romeyn Stevenson suggested Tuesday that council consider a motion calling on the Government of Nunavut to close the store that opened in 2017.
Closing the store is a bad idea. It would punish people who drink responsibly and would drive others into the waiting arms of bootleggers. That would create a new set of problems without significantly tackling the abuse of alcohol.
In the spring of 2024, Coun. Kyle Sheppard mused about using special occasion declarations to effectively create a temporary alcohol ban in a bid to curb drinking in public places.
Nunavut law allows a municipality to temporarily ban alcohol sales for two weeks during a special occasion, such as a holiday or a festival.
Stringing three declarations back to back to back would essentially cut off sales for an entire summer, Sheppard suggested then.
Councillors, however, never acted on the idea, which proved to be idle chatter.
Instead, back then, councillors unanimously approved Sheppard’s motion calling on the GN to “contribute to a solution” by enforcing the Liquor Act.
Sound familiar? There seems to be a pattern. The store stays open. Councillors complain about the negative effect public drunkenness has on the city. The RCMP steps up some patrols. The GN promises to listen. The cycle continues.
It’s not just councillors talking about what needs to be done.
In June, Iqaluit-Manirajak MLA Adam Arreak Lightstone raised the idea of reforming the Liquor Act to allow people convicted of violent crimes to be “blacklisted” from buying alcohol.
In March, Nunavut Finance Minister Lorne Kusugak said the government is looking for a “better location” for the store.
Last week’s end of the legislative assembly and the start of a territorial election campaign means the government isn’t likely to do anything until next year at the earliest.
Fortunately for Iqaluit, a territorial election is underway. What to do about the beer and wine store should be one of the issues for candidates running in the four Iqaluit ridings.
Now’s the time for candidates in Iqaluit to state what they would do as an MLA to help the city deal with this nagging social issue.
By coming up with ideas like closing the store, using special occasion declarations to ban sales, moving the store or blacklisting troublemakers, it’s clear that local politicians are expressing the frustrations of the people they represent.
Clearly, something needs to be done so Iqalummiut can feel safer. Instead of talking about what action to take, councillors should take some action and move forward. The status quo isn’t working and just leads to more and more complaining.
The never ending cycle of beer store/ no beer store/ restricted /unrestricted/ dry/ bars/ no bars has to stop. Alcohol isnt going anywhere. Like anything, there will be growing pains…
Start BANNING those that cause trouble. These idiots are a tiny percentage of the beer and wine store’s clientele but give it the bad rep and negative publicity. Purchasing alcohol should be a privilege and not a right.
Easy answer riddled with problems that you might have thought through had you spent more than ten seconds between the lazy idea popping into the head and writing.
It’s not a difficult problem to solve at all. The issue is either an individual or an organization, like, oh I don’t know, the Alcohol Education Committees, stepping up to get the paperwork filed with NCJ to ban individuals from possessing and purchasing alcohol. It’s just more convenient for City Councillors to get in the news with these statements and us to comment on the articles than to put in that effort.
Funny that an editorial is also just talk. How ironic.
By all means, let’s return to the days when violent break and entries to obtain alcohol were rampant. Or to obtain goods to sell to generate cash to pay the happy bootleggers. Alcoholics will not let anything or anyone get between them and alcohol. The community consultations advised putting measures and controls in place when the store opened. That has gone by the wayside so now let’s throw the baby out with the bathwater.
What does the community prefer: people drunk on alcohol or stoned crazy from sniffing gas, chugging bean juice, snorting glue? And let’s not forget the nearly impossible to stop hard drugs like meth, crack, heroin, fentanyl and whatever other poisons people use to get stoned.
.
Better to control it at liquor stores than move it back 100% to the black market.
.
And hire permanent security to stop the broad daylight bootlegging, drug dealing and drinking in the B&W store parking lot.
.
Maybe move the B&W store way down the road by the dump or end of federal road…
False dichotomies are tiresome.
Fun read — but your “Less talk, more action” take needs a splash of reality (and maybe a shot of the Liquor Act).
• Municipal powers: City council can’t close the beer & wine store as a single action. Plus no motion was made to that topic, a singular councillor’s statement was about a past community plebiscite and how he voted personally and would vote in the future.. guess you missed that or dare I think it was intentional for a click bait headline.
Your piece reads like a wish list, not legal reality. Less drama, more statute citations, please. Enough of the click bait foolishness that is rotting NN to its core
Alcohol serves no purpose other than to pull dollars into.the liquor stores bank account. A product without a benefit.The red blood cells have an affinity for alcohol and will carry molecules of it to the brain instead of oxygen. Effectively the more you drink, the less oxygen your brain gets. It takes all your ability to meet your responsibilities and if you lose that, there will be consequences proportionate to the amount consumed.