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Bootleggers win from holiday booze bans: Rankin deputy mayor

Hamlet councillors in Rankin Inlet voted not to impose a booze import ban over the holidays this year, partly because in past years, bootleggers have taken advantage of the opportunity to raise the price of illicit alcohol.
CBC News ·
Several Nunavut communities are debating whether to put alcohol bans in place over the Christmas holidays this year. Rankin Inlet did impose a ban last year, but RCMP said it made little difference in the number of calls they received.

Rankin Inlet will not ban alcohol orders over Christmas this year.

The hamlet did impose a ban last year, but RCMP said the ban didn't slow down the number of calls over the holidays.

Harry Towtongie is the Deputy Mayor.

“The bootleggers tend to order more liquor and sell it for more money," Towtongie says, "therefore depriving even more kids of money that should be going to them.”

Towtongie says that was just one of the issues among many.

Rankin Inlet is one of several Nunavut communities known as a 'restricted' community. The hamlet allows residents to import liquor, as long as orders are placed through a locally elected alcohol education committee. Many other communities have banned alcohol altogether. 

Several other restricted-alcohol communities in Nunavut are debating whether to put holiday booze bans in place this year.

In Kimmirut, the hamlet voted to ban booze orders between Dec. 20 and Jan. 4.  


 

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