Organized crime targeting Nunavut with drugs, RCMP says
Over $1.24 million worth of drugs seized in Iqaluit in the past two years
Justice Minister George Hickes and Nunavut RCMP commanding officer Chief Supt. Kent Pike say drug trafficking is on the rise in Nunavut during a Wednesday press conference in Iqaluit RCMP detachment. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
Canadian and international organized crime is driving the flow of illegal drugs into Nunavut where trafficking has been on the rise, says Chief Supt. Kent Pike, Nunavut RCMP’s commanding officer.
At a press conference Wednesday, RCMP show six kilograms of cocaine, $280,000 in cash and several illegal firearms. It’s a fraction of the amount of illegal substances and items seized by police in the past year. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
“These are large-scale organized efforts that people are bringing this poison into our territory,” added Nunavut Justice Minister George Hickes, speaking alongside Pike in a news conference Wednesday at the RCMP detachment in Iqaluit.
There are numerous avenues for drugs to enter the territory, including through Canada Post shipments and by people smuggling them from Yellowknife, Ottawa, Montreal or Winnipeg, Pike said.
In some cases, RCMP have found trafficking connections outside of Canada.
“Everything — no pun intended — is on the table,” Pike said, as he and Hickes sat next to a table holding six kilograms of cocaine, $280,000 in cash and several illegal firearms. They said it was only a fraction of the drugs and drug-related items seized by police over the past year.
Since the creation of Nunavut in 1999, RCMP have tracked increases in the amount of drugs trafficked and seized in the territory, Pike said.
For example, in 2025, police in Cambridge Bay seized 1.5 kilograms of cocaine worth an estimated $300,000.
Pike said trafficking drugs to Cambridge Bay led to several violent incidents last year that caused a stir in the community of about 2,000 people with many residents fearing for their safety.
Iqaluit has also recently seen a large increase in drug-related seizures — with approximately 6.2 kilograms of cocaine recovered by police in 2025, up from just 32 grams in 2024.
In total, $1.24 million worth of illegal drugs was seized in Iqaluit in 2024 and 2025 combined. Twenty-seven people were charged with drug-related offences
“So what we’re meaning to do is say, ‘No, this territory is not open for business for illegal activity,'” Pike said.
He encouraged people to report suspected drug traffickers, if not directly to the RCMP, then through an anonymous Crime Stoppers tip line.
Hickes said the Government of Nunavut wants to see security tightened at the Yellowknife airport, considered one of the big hubs for drug trafficking to Nunavut.
Currently, that airport doesn’t screen passengers who travel between the northern communities. Instituting that kind of screening would require changes to both territorial and federal legislation, he said.
“It can’t be understated how important it is to get ahead of this,” Hickes said.
“This isn’t somebody bringing up something to support their own addiction,” he said, noting the large amounts of drugs being seized. “There are organizations — as you can see, these [seizures] are in the kilograms.”
Are they just realizing this now? The North is Open Market with NO boarder control by any means of being a watch dog of these Hard Drugs coming to the North! “They stick out like a sore thumb at the Yellowknife, Ottawa airports”. Surely they can tell when they arrive into the small communities right? Did a guy get pointed out in Cam bay and he said he came to the wrong Cambridge? Lol
This information is very disheartening and disturbing. But, if you can find a silver lining, at least there appears to be little or no fentanyl or meth in the territory otherwise they would have talked about it. That stuff and fentanyl in particular is so devastating.
I also wonder who is buying the cocaine in Cambay and Iqaluit at northern prices? Not a poor person’s drug like meth and fentanyl/derivatives. How many of these cocaine buyers are government workers? So frightening that I won’t think about it.
Really glad the airport security was mentioned. I understand that not every airport in Nunavut can have security due to the size of the airport and staffing issues, but there really is no reason why there shouldn’t be security from Yellowknife (and now Rankin Inlet too with their new airport opening). This would obviously help reduce trafficking of drugs and bootlegging, but also increase the safety of flights.