Ulukhaktok hosts meeting to decide whether to tighten alcohol restrictions

Community concerns about alcohol usage in Ulukhaktok, N.W.T., has resulted in that community considering a public vote on whether to tighten restrictions. 

A meeting will take place Wednesday for community members to come to a final decision on  whether to hold a plebiscite on alcohol. If it goes ahead, the plebiscite would ask voters to choose whether to ban the sale of 60 oz bottles of liquor along with small "mickey" bottles. 

Ulukaktok Mayor Laverna Klengenberg said both sizes of liquor bottles have contributed to problems in her community. 

"Like in all the communities, you know, there have been issues regarding alcohol and the activities that happen as a result of too much all at once," she said.  

"It's always been that way where our scheduled flights from Yellowknife would send a shipment full of alcohol and then things would happen in the community that, you know, it's not favorable to elders, and to people, and to children as well."

Concern about alcohol consumption has grown over the past year in reaction to a noticeable increase in the amount of alcohol-fuelled crime, she said. 

"There is a continued rise in the public surrounding booze consumption. We are seeing a lot of people going to court. A majority of all of the charges being brought forward to the courts are alcohol-related," Susan Kaodloak, Ulukatkok's assistant senior administrative officer, told CBC in January.    

Community meetings about how to improve alcohol-related problems in Ulukhaktok have been taking place since October, 2018. 

Current alcohol restrictions could change

Ulukaktok last changed its liquor restrictions in 2008. Since then, people have been able to bring in one of five combinations of alcohol each week: 

• 1,140 ml of spirits and 12 355-ml containers of beer; 

• 1,140 ml of spirits and two litres of wine; 

• 12 355-ml containers of beer and two litres of wine; 

• 24 355-ml containers of beer and 750 ml of spirits; 

• 1,775 ml of spirits.

The most accessible liquor stores to the community are in Inuvik and Yellowknife. 

The territorial Department of Finance handles community plebiscites. Spokesperson Todd Sasaki confirmed it received notice that Ulukhaktok municipal council passed a motion to hold a plebiscite about its liquor restrictions. 

He said the department is now waiting for a final decision from the community before beginning the process of ordering and organizing a public vote. 

The community meeting will be held on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the community hall.