North needs a better way to handle public drunkenness
Tragic consequences will continue to unfold if police are left to babysit intoxicated people
The clearing of police officers in the jail-cell death of a woman in Akulivik underlines the need for better ways to curb public intoxication in northern communities. (File photo)
Updated April 18 at 11 a.m.
The extremely intoxicated, you will always have with you.
That appears to be the bleak picture Nunavik Police Service deputy Chief Jean-Francois Morin painted in reacting to news that no police officer would be charged in the death of Louisa Qiluqi a year ago.
The 33-year-old woman died in an Akulivik jail cell after police brought her in because she was intoxicated at the Co-op store and wouldn’t — or couldn’t — stop drinking.
Earlier this month, Quebec’s director of criminal and penal prosecutions concluded in a report Qiluqi’s death was the result of extreme intoxication.
Police bring in so many intoxicated people that “unfortunately, it’s bound to happen,” Morin said, about the possibility of someone dying while in police custody.
He told a Nunatsiaq News reporter that 95 per cent of his police force’s calls — a staggering portion — involve alcohol. Police sound frustrated, and with good cause.
Why is that so? Does it always have to be so?
Alcohol abuse is a tragic social problem everywhere. But it’s especially complicated in the North, in small villages and among Inuit communities.
Clearly, more needs to be done to prevent so many people from getting so drunk. And more needs to be done to prevent tragic outcomes when those people come in contact with police.
It starts with curbing alcohol abuse in the first place.
This paper has reported on numerous initiatives to reduce alcohol abuse, such as sobriety challenges, like the Pingngupaa (“tired of consuming”) Challenge, organized by the Isuarsivik recovery centre in Kuujjuaq. In February, some 800 Nunavimmiut signed up to win prizes by abstaining from alcohol for the month.
Any community-driven program like that deserves encouragement.
Changes in family values are also in order. Morin said one of Nunavik’s problems is that people kick drunk family members out of the house, instead of putting up with the havoc their intoxication creates for everyone else in the home.
Small, overcrowded homes make it hard for families to put up with a someone’s intoxication.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many other places for an intoxicated person to go.
As Morin said, when it’s “minus-60,” it’s dangerous for a drunk to be wandering around outside.
In larger, urban areas, there are public places where an intoxicated person can go to stay warm and sleep it off. That’s much less so in the North.
So, they’re forced to be in public areas — which, ultimately, leads to interaction with police.
In the south, police departments are reconsidering how they deal with mental health calls. They’ve learned that, in some cases, a police presence makes a mental health call worse, not better.
Some urban police services are starting to deploy social workers to respond to mental health calls.
In fact, Nunavik Police Service Chief Jean-Pierre Larose just yesterday told a Nunatsiaq News reporter how a mobile intervention team to pair an officer with a social worker as a pilot project in Puvirnituq.
That’s something that could be explored further in the North, although it would put additional pressure on mental health and social service resources that are already too scarce.
We shouldn’t expect police to be babysitters for people who drink too much. Yet, that’s the role we’ve forced them to adopt.
There’s got to be a better way for northerners — individuals, families, and authorities — to deal with public drunkenness.
If a better way isn’t found, the same tragic consequences will continue to unfold again and again.
Note: In a previous version of this story, Louisa Qiluqi’s name was misspelled
It is a vicious cycle that needs to be broken indeed. Unfortunately you see children who grow up around intoxication and it becomes normal. They grow up and work and a store, get a little bit of money and it goes to bootleggers for them to try as it’s been normalized.
What can be done? Give your children a safe and sober home. If you need to drink, not around your family if you can. But alas how can that be.
Be safe. Hopefully one day a solution will arise. But until then….
It’s possible to have a few drinks responsibly and not get drunk. This is what the children need to see — responsible drinking.
Pounding back a mikki that you bought off a bootlegger in front of your children is not responsible drinking.
The ones causing all the trouble are unaware that we are discussing them. There’s no insight because it’s not even on the radar with theses troublemakers , that are living outside of the flow of life that most people are living. It only takes a few, large few , but only takes little to make things bad for society. But we must keep making it unacceptable. Zero tolerance for drunken idiots in public.
North needs a better way to drink responsibly
There are those of us that are enjoying life, even having drinks, and just watching and keeping clear of the idiots. The north needs a better way to deal with those idiots may I add.
I know of 2 people that literally drank them selfs to death. they could not stop, one of them was told by a doctor to stop, but could not. SAD !!
Thanks for sharing your story, it seems it’s a familiar one.
Alcoholics are unable to control their drinking, once they drink alcohol. Alcohol affects an alcoholuc differently than a non-alcoholic, just as sugar affects a diabetic differently than a non-diabetic
The only control an alcoholic can exert regarding alcohol is to avoid drinking alcohol at all. To do that successfully and permanently, an alcoholic must first undergo a social, psychological, and spiritual transformation
To those who disagree with “S”‘s comment, please state why you disagree. I’m doing a study on perceptions of alcoholism.
If I could offer a reward to elicit responses, I’d gladly do that.
Do you really think a reward will contribute positively to this. I’m not in agreement that it will. The reward system as we know it in Nunavik is disproportionately and negatively. Especially kuujjuaq where by the culture of reward system is intruding on Inuit values, and negative impact on kids growing up to get an emptied motivation. Intrinsically rewarded and self motivated factors are depleted and outcome are consequently only looking for more material rewards. Keep your rewards! Maybe teach dogs some tricks , and give out a cookie instead.
S , you are stating facts about alcoholism. That ok, but what about Nunavik and drinking. Have you ever considered that Nunavik’s problems are not from the core of alcoholic, as much as they are from trouble makers who drink. It may seem the same , but it’s a very different situation. And how it’s dealt with is very different also. That’s why police are so involved! It’s the violence from drunk trouble makers. Yes, drinking and having a trouble personality is what I’m talking about. You can see that same kind of intervention everywhere, police don’t have much to do with alcoholics, as much as they have to do with drunk troublemakers. Most alcoholics are not troublemakers in the way we see troublemakers in Nunavik. You are among many who are confusing the problems, even professionals are making the same mistake. It’s a big difference in how we deal with it all, by way of identifying what it really is.
So what alcoholic. It’s not alcoholic causing trouble. It’s the idiot that haves two to three drinks, and that kicks his feet at people then lies on the ground screeching until he’s lock away.
If only alcoholism was the problem, it’s not. Alcohol in itself is a catalyst, but only by shutting down an idiots common sense, that’s already damaged. I’m going to disagree that what we see going off to jail are alcohols here in Nunavik. What’s goes to jail are bad behaviourism, not alcoholism. They would go to jail even if they didn’t drink, giving the opportunity.
This Corey guy who wrote this sounds very condescending and someone who is clearly on the side of the ‘poor police who have to deal with the stupid native drunks’.
You know what would really help with alcoholism? Not giving out prizes for not drinking, it is dealing with the underlying reasons why people drink. People generally drink alcohol to self medicate and numb the memory of some form of trauma. Help them deal with what they are trying to drown out in the first place, and they will not feel the need to self medicate.
As an aside, I have never liked the use of the word village, it implies that unsophisticated, uneducated, uncivilized country bumpkins live there. If you don’t believe me, look up the origin of the word villain. Community has a more positive connotation, it implies the people look out for each other, take care of each other.
Very. Words like “Babysit” in the headline, editing out his story as if it’s like everyone that gets drunk is in need of police intervention.. Coreys assumptions by stating “We shouldn’t expect police to be babysitters for people who drink too much. Yet, that’s the role we’ve forced them to adopt.” Key words there, Corey, is “too much”. It’s the same people getting arrested over and over again. Catch and release.
Having the “Pingngupaa” contests and other forms of kicking an addiction seem like a “fun way” of getting out of an addiction. When in reality, addictions are hardest to kick and that’s why they’re called addictions. I get that they do it with good intentions but imma be honest with you and state that I know a guy from inukjuak who went and did the “stay quit to win” challenge and mixed his urine with water when he went to give his sample. Guess what? He won a ticket to Montreal. He never quit smoking.
Why don’t they use all that money for advertising, testing, leaflets, and all that to… MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAMS, WHICH ARE LACKING?
That being said, the hospitals have restraints and remote controlled beds, that can go upright, with restraint bars on the side , or even wheel chairs, face masks, isolation rooms, ETC.. cops alone shouldn’t have to deal with overly drunk people and make them snooze it off. Restrain them and make sure they’re safe with proper equipment. Not a mattress on the floor and a blanket.
If , i m not mistaken , there is a padded room at our local hospital , only for 1 person at a time.
Maybe we should make it law that only one idiot at a time can be in public after a few drinks, wouldn’t want to overflow that padded room at the health Center. Would be the nicest thing , that law, only need one jail cell as well. Hey we’re getting somewhere here, maybe need one police as well. Sign me up for the conference , I got suggestions.
One padded room with parking space for more than one in wheel chair restraints.
I know…..those poor educated, sophisticated, traumatized, community drunks. LOL
Art, do you know any that went to jail, or worse, that have died as a result of alcohol abuse?
If you assume that people “generally” drink in order to drown some form of trauma, you have clearly never been to a university kegger. I know many people who got blind, stinking drunk regularly with nary a trauma in sight and the only excuse was that it was a Saturday night. Some of them eventually became alcoholics. I’ve had alcoholics in my own family who had no significant traumatic background. They’re just drunks.
Yes, agree, but don’t forget we’re not so much discussing alcohol, we are discussing idiots who cause trouble while consuming a few, yes trouble after a few.
Editorial should offer solutions, even sober thought. This does neither. Editor obviously had to fulfil a quota and decided 400 words of poorly informed and badly crafted thought would suffice. Thanks for doing nothing to further this conversation.
A look at the editorials of the current boss shows a tendency to say mostly very ‘safe’ and inoffensive things.
It’s your fault, it’s his fault, her fault, oh ,maybe it’s my mothers fault, wait , it’s could be ancestors from 1920. Just notice the blaming, now it’s editors fault. I welcome you to see how Nunavik has so many people that are blaming the whole world for their deplorable behaviour. Yes, it’s not my fault, it’s the world that’s treating me bad , said he to her, and she agrees. It’s an illness that blaming and shifting responsibility. It keeps the bad behaviour in circulation and those that blame are not getting any better. When it comes to alcohol amongst those that blame others, cut them off from getting it. They’re sick, and will continue to make their life and others around them miserable.
Nunavik is dysfunctional, what else is new? New my…,! There’s more talk about alcohol problems in Nunavik then all the alcohol in the country. Between the writer, the reader of the writers words, and the misinformation thats written, worse what’s read and misunderstood. One thing is correct: alcohol has a destructive hold on Nunavik. The kids you see today growing up, has more chances to do well. They have education opportunities, and healthy living like none before, but it’s in vain. 20 years from now, you’ll still see Inuit leadership , uneducated, going off to meetings, smelling of booze, hung over, just out of bed with god knows who, and it’s party life, no progress, just lost in transfers from the bad to the good. It’s really no life, just existence, and booze rules the day. Nunavik has too many trouble makers that transform after 2 or 3 beers, and become monsters that terrorize their families and neighbors. It’s always been like that since the first day of alcohol unfortunately coming to Nunavik. It’s time the federal and provincial government, set down and admitt, that Nunavik really has something very unhealthy in the drinkers that cause those problems. It’s a sickness that is not easily admitted, because it may sound bias, or non politically correct. It’s really worth a lot to the health of the population for this investigation to go on, and then deal with that sickness by first admitting it. Some call it past traumatic experiences. I call it a sickness, mentally unstable, and with nowhere to go, but constantly and continuously destroying.
The worse ideology for Nunavik’s drinking problems is the labeling of alcoholic. That’s where we can do better by staying away from that diagnosis. It is a diagnosis and or a self administered truth that forms the mandate of the treatment programs and medical interventions. It’s easy for society, if we just carry on with the label and disregard any other reason that there’s troubles around drinking. Just watch closely and you’ll soon see that the drinking problems are caused by troublesome people who also cause less degree of the same problem while sober. You’ll see troublesome people going to jail, and you won’t see too many in any medical emergency like delirium tremors, why because only alcoholic go into withdrawal that way. You’ll see those that do fine medically while in jail, without alcohol. Stop the label, and look for the trouble maker, and at least you’ll see the reality. Not that it will make a difference, but it might help treatments and other professionals to plan better for solutions.
People have a right, not to be bothered by drunks. You should be able to use the roads to walk and drive on, without jeopardizing your security from being ran over or hit by drunk driver. You should be able to go to a grocery store and not have to deal with drunks looking for money and cigarettes and saying dump things. Even the police and doctors, nurses and emergency workers should not have to deal with drunks over and over. A drunk that intimidates an emergency worker or a citizen ,should have a ban imposed on them, as not to do it again, or face jail time. This should be the law . It’s needed long ago in Nunavik. This is not the Wild West, and we don’t have to put up with savage behaviour in this day. Kids should not be exposed to it, and no one else.
No one has rights to drink alcohol and cause crime and nuisance to others. It’s time the law get strictest about that in Nunavik. Drinking is a privilege, and you should lose it if you cause nuisance and crime to others. If you can’t drink responsibly, you should be banned from buy and using any alcohol. It’s your responsibility to hold up to that, if you can learn , you get your privilege back, but it’s your duty to behave. And if you continue some kind of pattern for being a nuisance or always getting into trouble, you could have a permanent ban place of you.
It is a problem in every community. There is no easy solution. Banning alcohol doesn’t work, neither does strict control. Until we stop treating adults like children this will never change. Hold people accountable for their actions, stop scapegoating it.
It seems to me that you agree that the problem is really from the people that treat adults like children, not really a drunken persons problem. The consequences must be adult like not child like as punishment. That’s can be an interesting finding. It would be like, the drunk problem will be inevitably alive, but it’s the law, or the judge, or some other power beyond the culprit that causes the problem, as the inevitable is not a problem but a matter of fact. The law must act, and complete its intervention then. I agree though that banning alcohol doesn’t work, but I agree that banning alcohol from sick trouble makers might do wonders for the region. And having said that, it would only be reasonable to say, that the trouble makers will drink anyway. So be it, if they drink, they drink, but at least they’ll be on the register, and that would be a good start. Other time, that registration of banned alcohol drinkers will sink in to help shape better choices for future potential trouble makers. I think that would be an adult like, not child like consequence.
Not treat adults like children. The problem lies in treating children like adults. Our children have to endure the the drunken mess that surrounds living in Nunavik. If we focus the attention on children instead of adults, maybe our motivations will bring solutions. Our efforts should be made in the named of children, children are the future and they are the biggest suffering people in all this. When you do good things for your children , it shows up as a good future, but when you do bad things , it shows up as we are seeing now. We’re focusing too much on helping those drunks that refuse help, we need a shift in who can be helped, and help for all of Nunavik as a whole. Stop focusing on the drunk! Focus instead of the health of the community, especially kids. I’m not leaving the drunks out to fend for themselves, but make them an object of obstruction to well being of everyone else, but stop wasting 40 million dollar on useless healing centers for them, they will not do any better than they’re doing now. Focus on kids instead. Look at Easter games, kids get a few outdated chocolates, given out in a few minutes, adults get 10 to 15 thousand for a race. It’s out of proportion with the request Nunavik makes for funding from governments. It’s not healthy, and Nunavik suffers for that, wasted life , money , material way of life, while your neighbors are partying and neglecting
Wow, the comments here are some of the best I’ve seen in any forum about the problems caused by alcohol, people who become social misfits after consuming alcohol, the terrible effects on communities and other people, and alcoholism itself.
I am a long-time recovered alcoholic, and have studied alcoholism much during that time. I have adjusted my thoughts about the effects of alcohol on people and communities, especially remote ones.
We need meaningful change and we need it now. As ‘Citizen rights’ said, “This is not the Wild West”
Also, thank you to ‘There are trouble makers not alcoholics’, who wrote:
“It’s easy for society, if we just carry on with the label [alcoholism] and disregard any other reason that there’s troubles around drinking. Just watch closely and you’ll soon see that the drinking problems are caused by troublesome people who also cause less degree of the same problem while sober.”
I know alcoholics who have a drinking problem who never cause any trouble except if they have a medical emergency. They get blind drunk, don’t start fights, pass out. They’re often the victims of the violent drunks.
That’s correct indeed. Alcoholic would be ashamed of what we’re witness in Nunavik with trouble maker micky bottle drinkers. Why put the alcoholic in same boat with these idiots?
Nunavik communities get approved from the municipality as far as I know, when it comes to regulations of alcohol. But it appears that they don’t do well in the decision. Now that we are trying to deal with public nuisance drinking, what do the municipalities have to say about their approval in the first place? What’s there input on the solution for public nuisance? Are they saying it’s not our problem! It’s up to the police? Huh? So if that’s the case how are municipalities permitted to make decisions, and when things turn , bad, they say it’s not our problem, or we don’t have a solution! The solution is not our job it’s police work? It seems to me that we would do well if we allow the police to make approval of booze for Nunavik! Special only to Nunavik. Nowhere else would even be thinkin* of this situation like we have in Nunavik. The people of Nunavik are products of poor leadership very much. And what do Nunavik get for leadership, the products locally made and bread in Nunavik.
I’ll call on Inuit film makers to show the world the real,Inuit life struggle. Alcohol problems have devastated Inuit culture over the past 30 or so years, and not many from within are acknowledging the impact. You get some bits and pieces of information from southern reports here and there, but not to much from Inuit . Until it gets people from Nunavik taking this seriously and stop denying it, join up with the help that’s offered over and over from the province and the country,and even the world, as by seeing other indigenous people make solutions, until that happens it’s not going to change as time goes it gets worse.