March 26, 2010
By The Canadian Press
NATUASHISH, N.L. - Residents of this troubled Innu community in northern Labrador voted Friday to maintain a divisive ban on alcohol.
Chief Simeon Tshakapesh said 188 people supported the proposal to keep Natuashish a dry community indefinitely.
He said 125 voted against maintaining the ban and there were three spoiled ballots. There were 486 eligible voters.
"This is the law now," Tshakapesh said from his home. "This is the ban bylaw and that's the way it's supposed to be.
"I think it should be respected because the people have spoken loud and clear. They got their wish. They've always been asking for a secret ballot and that's the way it is."
Residents were badly split when the dry bylaw passed by just two votes in January 2008.
Detractors say the bylaw turns any drinker into a criminal and enriches bootleggers. They also questioned the way the initial vote was conducted - by people being asked to stand on opposite sides of a gym, depending on which side of the ban they supported.
Tshakapesh said Friday's vote was held by secret ballot and everyone should respect it.
"People were give a secret ballot. People were given a chance to speak. People were given a chance to vote on it and ... people have to respect that and move on," he said.
Prote Poker, a former chief who oversaw the bylaw's introduction two years ago, said he was happy with the outcome and believes it will end the controversy over the initial referendum.
"I always believed people respected the bylaw," he said. "I think people were onside as we went along, even though we had a slim majority at the beginning.
"I think people were getting use to it and this vote shows that people were in favour of it."
Tshakapesh was a young police officer in 1993 when he shot video footage of gas-sniffing Innu children at Davis Inlet that was broadcast around the world. The community relocated 15 kilometres on to the mainland in 2002 at a cost of about $200 million.
The move meant new housing and a modern school, along with better access to traditional hunting grounds. But supporters of the no-alcohol policy say life really started to change when liquor was outlawed.
They point to marked decreases in domestic violence, violent crime and public disturbances.
The RCMP said it would have extra police in Natuashish for the vote Friday and throughout the weekend.
Tshakapesh said the vote went smoothly and he wasn't aware of any incidents.
The RCMP said crime dropped in Natuashish after the ban went into effect.
From February 2007 to January 2008 - the final year that alcohol was legal - there were 244 victims of violent crime, the Mounties said. Two years later, that figure dropped to 182.
There were 59 incidents of causing a disturbance last year, compared to 145 in the 12 months before the bylaw.
Overall, there were 903 RCMP calls for service in Natuashish last year compared to 1,436 in the year before it went dry.