Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, taking measures to address drugs, community safety
Town hall meeting this week included hamlet leadership, RCMP and the territory’s justice minister
An RCMP drug-detecting dog and a local alert ready system are some of the ideas that will be implemented in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, in response to growing concern about drugs and community safety in the hamlet.
The hamlet held a town hall meeting earlier this week to talk about the issue. It lasted over three hours with almost 100 people in attendance, including Mayor Wayne Gregory, MLA and Nunavut’s Minister of Justice Pamela Gross, and the acting commanding officer for the RCMP in Nunavut, Kent Pike.
The meeting happened in the wake of a violent, drug-related assault that led to the medical evacuation of two men in Cambridge Bay last week. Four people were charged in connection with that incident.
While the assault was not the focal point of conversation during the town hall, Pike said that it was the “tipping point” that pushed the meeting into motion.
RCMP confirmed that the hamlet has recently seen both a rise in people reporting drug activity to the police and an increase in drug-related arrests.
Gross said that there has been “a lot of distress, feelings of being unsafe, and people afraid in the community.”
“There are hard drugs in the community,” Gross said. “It’s affecting us negatively and we want tactful solutions to help solve the issue.”
During the town hall, potential solutions to solve the drug issue were discussed at length. Gross said community members offered insight into how to make the hamlet feel safe once again.
One solution was to bring in an RCMP drug detection dog into the community, said Gross.
The police dog will not be permanently stationed in the hamlet but will be brought in periodically to be used for “proactive work and deterrence,” according to Pike. Currently, Nunavut does not have a police dog specifically dedicated to the territory.
The hamlet will also implement an alert ready system, to send short notifications to residents’ mobile devices if a police operation is taking place or if the hamlet is in lockdown. A system notification test will be conducted this Friday afternoon, said Gross.
Issues in the hamlet will also be addressed by a local inter-agency team, which includes the Kitikmeot Inuit Association (KIA) and RCMP. The team will “be tasked with developing and implementing some of the measures that are needed to protect Cambridge Bay,” said KIA in a Facebook post after the town hall.
KIA says it’s committed to finding solutions to “not only protect Cambridge Bay from the damage and fear caused by the free flow of narcotics and criminals into this community, but also develop measures that will protect all Kitikmeot communities.”
This week’s town hall was an important step in addressing community safety, said Pike.
“It’s all about getting everything out in the open,” said Pike. “The police play one part, the residents play one part, the [hamlet] council plays one part, the government plays another part. Everybody plays a part to keep our community safe.”
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Drugs and handgun seized after luxury vehicle stopped on Sahtu winter road, say RCMP, Eye on the Arctic
Finland: Police response times up to an hour slower in Arctic Finland, Yle News
United States: Alaskan authorities intercept Canadians allegedly smuggling drugs, firearms into U.S., Alaska Public Media
