Nunavik police seize alcohol, drugs in 11 operations
Search warrants carried out in Akulivik, Kangiqsualujjuaq, Kangiqsujuaq, Kuujjuaq, Salluit and Puvirnituq
The vodka bottles shown here are among the many recently seized by officers of the Kativik Regional Police Force in Nunavik. (Photo courtesy of the KRPF)
Eleven search warrants in Nunavik communities have netted the Kativik Regional Police Force numerous bottles of illegally ordered vodka and beer, as well as various kinds of drugs, including hashish and methamphetamine pills, from May 26 to June 6.
The seizures have an overall street value of more than $55,000, the KRPF said in a June 11 news release.
“The success of investigations is directly linked to the amount and the quality of information we receive from the public,” said KRPF Deputy Chief Jean-François Morin in the release about the seizures.
“Lately, we’ve received a lot of information regarding the illegal sale of drugs and alcohol. This has allowed us to corroborate the information, ask for warrants, and conduct seizures. I encourage citizens to continue to report these types of activities, and I pledge to continue our efforts to eliminate contraband.”
Police seizures included 84 375-ml bottles of vodka and 44 750-ml bottles of vodka. They also seized 48 cans of beer, 448 grams of a substance believed to be cannabis and three grams of hashish.
Three pills of alprazolam, commonly known as Xanax, and 336 methamphetamine pills were also among the items seized.
Officers executed search warrants in Akulivik, Kangiqsualujjuaq, Kangiqsujuaq, Kuujjuaq, Salluit, and Puvirnituq.
The police seized these bottles of vodka in Akulivik on June 4. (Photo courtesy of the KRPF)
The KRPF had announced its seizure of alcohol and drugs in Akulivik in an earlier news release, issued on June 7.
On June 3, police in Akulivik received information from a confidential informant that several parcels containing illegal alcoholic beverages were arriving by Canada Post.
”The following morning, officers corroborated the information by conducting surveillance,” that KRPF news release said.
During their surveillance, officers seized two parcels and brought them to the police station, police said.
The officers then requested and received two search warrants to open and search the boxes, finding 27 half-sized bottles of vodka, six larger bottles of vodka and 119 grams of a substance believed to be cannabis.
The KRPF estimates that the total street value of those seized items was nearly $12,000.
Under the Code of Penal Procedure and the Criminal Code, police officers may also conduct seizures without a warrant where the time necessary to obtain a warrant may result in the disappearance, destruction or loss of the item being searched for, the KRPF said.
The KRPF said that investigations are ongoing and that the individuals targeted by the recent search warrants may face charges.
Any information concerning suspicious activities, including the illegal sale of drugs and alcohol, can be disclosed anonymously to Crime Stoppers by calling the following toll-free number: 1-800-711-1800, the KRPF said.
Information received may qualify an informant for a reward of up to $2,000, the KRPF said.
Thank you! Probably saved a life this weekend.
Drugs & Alcohol abuse has killed numbers enough to populate a whole community around any arctic village. Hard core drugs and here and addicted community members will need centres for detox and it will take change of many ways of creativity from each individual community to help those who will then be depending on others to come clean. But in the end greed will still grow as communities grow. All these programs prepared for such problems have to take space meaning we have to prepare now for building centres for this. Keep participating in authorities efforts to battle the arctic mafia.
According to the penal procedure and the criminal code the citizens have no rights to privacy, when they do this to you. You can sue the police force and the municipality upto a minimum of 15,000$ for being a victim of unlawful search and harassment
Spoken as if you know nothing about the law and certainly didn’t read the article. Are you a bootlegger or a dealer yourself? Sounds like it.
Warrants were issued to allow the police to enter the homes.
My take, stop involving the rcmp and other police forces as the easy solution in things that are non-criminal in other part parts of the country. I think this will go along way towards the healing. Have more education and tolerance training around alcohol and marijuana usage. Stop introducing your people to the criminal systems and criminalizing them because of these unworkable prohibitions. When was the last time you saw in the news someone was arrested for having vodka or beer in Ottawa, Toronto , Winnipeg as examples?Stop doing this to your own people, please try education and counseling, it will be slow but it is the better option. Stop the prohibition it hurts your own people.
Non-criminal?? What province is bootlegging and drug dealing not a criminal activity.?
Shake your head okay?
Paul, the issue is not what is illegal, it’s the fact that it is illegal at all. Think a bit more deeply on this if you can.
Head shake, that was the point I was making. Too many people in indigenous areas are too easily drawn into the criminal system for doing activities which are otherwise legal in almost all non-indigenous areas of Canada. Ironically, the people who are making the rules are indigenous people. It does not make any sense. For example, a resident of Arviat with a mickie might find him or herself dealing with the RCMP. That same person could be in Winnipeg with a case and will have no interaction with the criminal system. People should no break the law, but please give your own people a break. Try to handle alcohol and legal pot outside of the criminal system. It is going to be hard work but it is worth a try.
This story is not about a one-off sale of a mickey (which is still illegal) but bulk purchasing and sale (bootlegging) and taking advantage of people and their addiction. It is about bootleggers and dealers openly selling illegally to kids and adults and the population complaining that it should not be. As a retired person from the justice system, I can assure you, people very seldom end up with a criminal record for doing something that is legal across Canada. Respect to the RCMP who, without much support, are doing a great job.
It wasn’t the RCMP, it was the krpf. They’ve also taken unauthorized beer for personal consumption. I’m talking 2-3-4-5 cases that weren’t gonna be sold and we’re going to get some alcoholics through the covid season. Happened a lot in pov. Everyone tried stocking up because we know they won’t allow booze sales during the time being. Which is wrongful from both the NV and KRPF and is against our constitution.
When alcohol/drugs ( and so many otherdicriminations ) is causing harm in our community, and this harm is directly linked to non and legal supplier/ provider, our duty/responsibility toward the benefit of all is to act accordingly, is it not ?
Yes, you must act accordingly. However, it may be time reform or rethink how to act. As an example, No police for your people with alcohol and legal pot. Stop bootlegging by providing a store, so those who purchase can purchase legally. Don’t set people up to break the law by taking away the legal means. Solves weaknesses by education and not policing.
Amen. They do a lot that is against the Canadian constitution, like taking alcohol for personal consumption, and pouring it. You don’t see that in the cities. Or taking legal weed and confiscating it. You also don’t see that in the cities. I find these bylaws are racial bylaws considering it only attacks our people. You see white people and black people take what ever they want that’s legal up here. The only difference is, they do not get the same punishments we face, as Inuit.
My only disagreement is that it is not the White or Blacks who are making these bylaws which are very difficult for indigenous people. It is not the White or Blacks who are voting in these plebiscites to takes away privileges that other Canadians enjoy. There must be a better way than the legal system to deal with these social issues. I am tired of seeing indigenous people being pulled into the system for things that they can be enjoyed or abused almost everywhere else in Canada. It is a conversation that must be had if you want less police in your life because they must enforce the laws that you passed.
These laws are in place for all to abide by. Not just Inuit.
Who’s to say that white and black locals don’t supply? I won’t say I know anyone and but what I will say is that I don’t know anyone that doesn’t know anyone. It could be your local dealer that may be supplied by them. Lots of issues in kuujjuaq that have been published on this paper about it, too. CBC, la press, etc.. these laws are in place for everyone to abide by and krpf targeting only Inuit.. some might even say it is unjust and racist.
In our northern communities, it’s doesn’t matter legal or illegal. The trouble is not about that. The trouble comes from the people that can’t handle a beer or two, or an appreciation for having some alcohol. Talking about the law of booze is another issue, but it’s manifested out of the inability to control behaviour. The authorities are applying laws because of the mess in the first place with people that can’t handle booze, and causing horrific problems to other people. The next time you see a drunk out in public or see a police car going to such and such a house, remember that’s why we can’t have a normal life with freedom to purchase booze.
The majority of our alcohol related crime comes from people that have purchase the alcohol legally. Bootleggers and drug dealers are criminals, that’s true, it’s another part of crime, not related to the already legally alcohol fuelled crime. It’s unfortunate that many people don’t grasp the magnitude of how alcohol is not tolerated, and will never be tolerated in many people in indigenous communities. It’s also sad that it’s a fact that can’t be fully admitted , due to political correctness and seen as bias and racist. It’s a fact, maybe medical fact, that keeps our communities in an illness of struggle. If this admission of true was to become accepted, it would grant a path towards healing. People need to know the world is not flat, so to speak of truth.
I urge the leadership to really do something about the drinking and mess it’s causing to people of Nunavik. We talked about how many Inuit died at the hands of the KRPF. As far as I’m reading and knowing some of the facts, those that have been shot by police , most were drunk.
The police issue of concern today is another issue in itself, but let’s say the course on our alcohol issues. Leadership, stop and see the numbers of malnutrition looking people staggering around in the morning hours. Almost getting run over from staggering across the roads. Staggering into the stores for coke and cigarettes. Watch how groups of non working people go in and out of the Co-op stores with pack sacks, that fits a 12 beer. Then walked slowly into this house, and that shed in groups in the middle of the day. Then watch how they end up in jail, court, st Jerome, Amos. It’s a pattern that’s repeated over and over. Then the leadership is wondering why we can’t have self government. Wake up leadership, and pull the rank, on those that can’t help themselves and causing this society to go downward with preventive health and justice issues. Alcohol will not disappear, but theses behaviours of depletion of our society must disappear with laws to stop the problem drinkers.
For the record, I’d like to state I do not drink or do drugs, nor sell any illegal substances if any kind.
So, I just went to my local post office and I see them snooping through, peeping and opening packages at random. Even my package had been opened. This is highly illegal, and bootleggers and drug dealers are not the only ones to blame for the searches and damaged stuffed toy I bought and received with a major cut down the middle with a box cutter, but the very post masters themself and Canada post for unlawfully searching packages. This is very frustrating because, this was suppose to be a gift for my god daughter. She picked it out. Since it isn’t made a little furry, there is no hiding the stitches on this item, too. I suggest the police take some responsibility in this, as well. Considering they are on a power trip having everyone’s packages searched for contraband. Not all nunavimmiut are bootleggers or drug dealers!