Booze ban in Natuashish working: Mountie

A controversial ban on alcohol in the northern Labrador community of Natuashish has made the Innu reserve safer, says a police officer who patrols it.

"Right now things are pretty quiet, and that's the way we like it," RCMP Sgt. Jarrett Francis told CBC News on Friday night, as he drove down one of the main streets in Natuashish.

Residents in the Innu community will meet Tuesday to debate whether an alcohol ban which gives the RCMP power to lay charges against those who bring beer, wine and spirits into the community is worth keeping.

Simeon Tshakapesh, who won an election early this month as the community's chief, initially said he would instruct the RCMP to stop enforcing the ban.

The RCMP, however, said the decision must be made by the community. As well, the force has released statistics showing that crime has been cut by 40 per cent since the ban came into effect in 2008. Violent crime is down by almost 50 per cent, RCMP statistics show.

Despite the ban, alcohol is still making its way into the community, where people pay as much as $300 for a bottle of cheap whiskey from a bootlegger.

Francis said when the booze arrives, so does trouble.

"As police officers here in Natuashish, you can tell when the liquor's in," Francis said.

"That's when you start getting the phone calls, people at parties get into arguments or fights, the girlfriend got beat up by the boyfriend."

Francis said if the alcohol could be kept out, Natuashish would barely need a police force.

He said he would deliver that message when he speaks at a community meeting scheduled for Tuesday.

The alcohol ban has been divisive since it was first enacted two years ago. The vote at that time was held in public at the community gymnasium, with supporters of the ban standing on one side of the room, and opponents on the other. In the end, the ban supporters won by a narrow margin.

Tshakapesh said a secret ballot should have been used for the vote.

Substance abuse has been a chronic problem for Natuashish residents for many years. The community was founded in 2002, after residents left Davis Inlet, a village that became internationally notorious after images of gas-sniffing children were broadcast around the world.

Katie Rich, a former chief in Davis Inlet, said the ban will not end without a fight.

She said the ban has helped the community recover from a history that has included a high suicide rate and heavy gas sniffing.

"Those memories came back to me when I heard the ban would be lifted and we simply can not go back," she said.

However, Simon Pokue, who was elected deputy chief this month, disputes the claim that the ban is working.

"There's no change," he said. "People are still boozing, they're still drinking."

Pokue said he also finds the crime statistics misleading, and that victims who have been drinking are now afraid to go to the police.

"They don't want to report people drinking in their homes, but there are crimes that are still committed," he said.