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Gun-toting teens mar festivities in two hamlets

Boys in Pangnirtung and Cape Dorset charged with firearm offences, assault with a weapon.

KIRSTEN MURPHY

Incidents involving gun-toting teenage boys disturbed seasonal festivities in two Nunavut hamlets last week.

In Cape Dorset, a 15-year-old boy faces six firearms-related charges after a shooting incident there on Dec. 27.

Const. Glen Fishbook of the Cape Dorset RCMP detachment said a youth fired one shot outside a community hall where several hundred people were gathered.

No one was injured, and neither drugs nor alcohol were factors in the incident, Fishbook said.

"Considering there was a firearm and half the community was at the dance, there was some risk (to public safety)," Fishbook said.
The Cape Dorset teen appears in Nunavut youth court Jan. 7.

Mathew Jaw Saviajuk, the mayor of Cape Dorset, said that despite the scare, the community's mood went back to normal.
"The next night there were activities and the boy's father said he was sorry for what his son had done," Saviajuk said.

Meanwhile, Pangnirtung police arrested a 15-year-old boy armed with a sawed-off rifle last week while Christmas celebrations went on at a nearby school.

The boy, who cannot be named because of provisions in the Young Offenders Act, is in custody in Iqaluit.

Police in Pangnirtung received two complaints relating to two separate firearms incidents in the early morning hours of Dec. 27 and Dec. 28. No shots were fired and no one was injured in either incident, police said.

"There were other people involved but he's the only one charged at this point," said RCMP Const. Jeff Johnston, adding that a crowbar was involved in one of the assaults.

While police arrested the boy on Dec. 28, Pangnirtung residents were finishing an evening of games and music in the school gym. Johnston said alcohol was not involved in the incident.

The boy will appear in Nunavut youth court on Jan. 8. He's charged with assault with a weapon, two counts of possession of a weapon, one count of possession of a prohibited firearm and several breaches of court orders.

The breaches of court orders relate to assault, break-and-enter, theft, and firearm charges filed against the boy earlier in the year.

"It had the potential to become more violent and someone could have been seriously hurt," Johnston said. "Any time you're dealing with firearms, things can escalate."

Community crackdown

Pangnirtung's three-person RCMP detachment say they stopped violence in the community from escalating by cracking down on bootleggers during the Christmas season.

Eleven liquor bottles with a street value of $2,100 were seized at the Pangnirtung airport on Dec. 30, Johnston said. Charges have not yet been laid.

The bust accounted for about 20 per cent of the $12,000 worth of booze seized in Pangnirtung in 2001. The seizure on Dec. 30 works out to roughly 48 bottles of rum and vodka.

Police also seized $6,000 worth of marijuana from the Pangnirtung airport in two separate incidents on Dec. 22 and 23. The RCMP has charged Sam Nookinguak with possession for the purpose of trafficking in connection with the Dec. 22 bust. The Dec. 23 incident remains under investigation.

In total, police seized marijuana and hash with a street value of $35,000 in 2001.

The crackdown likely reduced the number of alcohol- and drug-related incidents over the holidays, police said.

"Last year this time was wild. We had five spousal assaults, a couple of impaired drivers and a lot of alcohol-related problems," Johnston said.

"I'm sure the liquor we took quieted the whole town down this year. It didn't get into the hands of the people who would have caused us problems. It's a relief."

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