Nunavik police to station permanent investigation team in Puvirnituq
Officers say team will bring more efficient policing to Hudson coast region
Deputy Chief Jean-François Morin, left, Chief Jean-Pierre Larose and Deputy Chief Shaun Longstreet present Nunavut Police Service statistics and updates to Kativik Regional Government during a council meeting this week. (Photo by Cedric Gallant)
Nunavik Police Service is in the process of establishing a new team of investigators on the Hudson coast.
Police Chief Jean-Pierre Larose announced Tuesday during a Kativik Regional Government council meeting that the team will be permanently stationed in Puvirnituq.
Every Nunavik community has two officers stationed at all times, but previously the only investigators were stationed in Kuujjuaq.
The new Puvirnituq team will be able to travel up and down the Hudson coast instead of flying in from Kuujjuaq for investigations.
“They will have quicker access,” Larose said. “It is going to facilitate a lot of things.”
He said the first investigator was scheduled to arrive this week, and the rest of the team will trickle in. The team’s office arrived on the latest sealift.
Officers presented the police service’s crime and seizure statistics from January to July 31 this year during the KRG meeting.
According to the presentation, police seized more than $3 million worth of drugs in the region. During the same period last year, they seized $750,000 in drugs.
That amounts to more than 82,000 grams of substances. Just over 97 per cent of the seizures involved marijuana, hashish or edibles.
“The only place where you can legally buy cannabis in Quebec is the SQDC,” said Deputy Chief Jean-François Morin.
“A lot of people are still getting busted because they order from Vancouver or other different places.”
Larose noted that when he joined the Nunavik police in 2018, “we did not even do a single seizure, now we are doing one every week.”
“There are a lot of hard drugs coming in,” he said. “It is a constant battle but we are fighting, we will do everything we can.”
Overall, crime is up in Nunavik compared to 2023, with police responding to 6,285 criminal incidents so far this year.
By this time last year, there were 3,875 criminal incidents, and in 2022 there were just over 7,000 criminal incidents for the same time period.
Police reported an overall decrease in murders and attempted murders this year, but an increase in assaults.
a permanent investigation team stationed there? are there enough questionable interactions in that region to warrant it? food for thought
One of the most lawless places on earth let alone Canada 😂
Why is the public entity reporting at Makivvik offices? Wifi password ᓄᐃᑕᔪ LOL
The stuff from vancouver is better and cheaper , then the SQDC crap sells.