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Vice news put out a short doc on drinking and crime rates in Nunavut. I wanted to start discussion on the topic.

I'm on a mobile device so this may be a little muddled, sorry about that. Some of these articles are a few years old but they seem to still be relevant since things don't seem to be changing too fast.

I wasn't really aware that crimes rates were so much higher in the territories compared with the rest of the country and I also wasnt aware about prohibition in many communities.

Here a link to Canadian crime rates:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Canada

Crime severity index:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tabl...gal51a-eng.htm

Crime has soared in Nunavut since the territory was founded 12 years ago, amid high hopes of restoring Inuit people's control of their destiny. It now has Canada's highest rates of homicide, suicide and substance abuse, as well as the nation's worst public health picture. Is Nunavut a failure in nation building? And if so, what must be done to heal history's scars?

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/na...service=mobile

Table 1 indicates crime rates by offence per 100,000 population for Canada, the NWT and Nunavut.[7] The rates for both the NWT and Nunavut are higher than for Canada as a whole. Crimes of violence (e.g., assault, sexual assault) are extremely high in the territories relative to Canada. Similarly, the rate of break and enter is substantially higher in the territories

The Statistics Canada data included in Tables 1 and 2 demonstrate the relatively high level of violent offending by youth and adults in Nunavut, as well as the relatively high rates of property crime, particularly break and enter. Both RCMP and Nunavut Corrections personnel have suggested that these rates will likely continue to rise in view of the relatively young age of Nunavut's population. Key informants view the lack of community level programming for youth as an especially serious contributing factor in the rising crime rates.

4.4. Summary

Nunavut is characterized by a fast growing, young population. Its proportion of young people infancy to 14 years is almost twice that for Canada as a whole. The territory has a higher rate of violent personal crime, particularly domestic abuse and sexual assault, in comparison to Canada. Property crime, especially break and enter, are also proportionately high compared to the rest of Canada. Key informants are concerned that the incidence of criminal behavior will increase in the near future.

http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/c...cj-cjn/p4.html

Crime rates in North still higher than in rest of Canada
N.W.T., Nunavut have rates about 4 times higher than national average
Jul 24, 2012 9:09 PM CT
CBC News
Crimes rates in the north are not declining like most of Canada.

Across Canada last year, the number of crimes reported to police was at a 40-year low in 2011, according to new numbers from Statistics Canada.

But in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, crime remains about four times the national average. In Yukon, the crime rate is about double the national average.

"There's a number of factors, educational issues, addictions issues, housing issues, employment issues. All sorts of things like that play into people's ability to keep themselves productive and out of trouble, out of distractions, which are created by such things as addictions issues," said RCMP Staff Sgt. Brad Kaeding.

Kaeding said the majority of crimes are related to alcohol, and to a lesser extent, drug use. He added that victims and perpetrators often know each other; very few crimes are random.

http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/canada/nort...nada-1.1221263

Maclean’s third annual crime surveys shows an epidemic of violence in the North. Forget Arctic sovereignty. This is the problem that needs attention.

At the root of all this crime is “alcohol, alcohol, alcohol,” says Chief Supt. Steve McVarnock, head of the Nunavut RCMP. “When alcohol comes into the communities the majority of them will experience a spike in police-related activity.” Even places that have decided by plebiscite to prohibit alcohol are often sabotaged by bootleggers. Pangnirtung and Arviat are both “dry,” but they experienced an increase in crime in 2009 compared to one year earlier, says McVarnock. In March, he adds, officers arrested two individuals in Iqaluit who had ordered 2,800 60-ounce bottles of vodka, which sell for up to $500 each in smaller communities.

http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/canadas-shame/

A Closer Look at Nunavut’s Notoriously High Murder Rate
December 5, 2014
by Peter Worden


My neighbor in Iqaluit tried to kill someone. We've shared cabs and we pass one another in the toiletry aisle, but it wasn't until her name was called in court this week that I made the connection. Even then, I just nodded as if to say, well, #### happens.​

Life goes on in the territory. It has to—even after a suspicious death last w​eek in Igloolik (pop. 1,454), a murder the week befo​re in Rankin Inlet (pop. 2,266), and one before that on October 1 in Pon​d Inlet (pop. 1,549). In Nunavut (pop. 31,906), we're all neighbors to the most serious criminal offence: murder.

This week Statistics Canada released its Homicide Su​rvey—an annual cobbling-together of data from police forces across the country. It boasts the fewest homicide victims in 40 years. That number is down in Nunavut too: four homicides in 2013 from five in 2012 and seven in 2011. It's a deceptive stat that, like so many national reports, paints Nunavut as an outlier in Canada.

If Nunavut were a city its homicide rate would be triple that of Regina, the Canadian metropolitan area with the highest per-capita murder rate. If it were a country its murder rate would be double that of the US and in the range of Nicaragua and Haiti.

http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/a-clo...urder-rate-324

Here's a link to the vice documentary:

http://www.vice.com/video/prohibitio...ern-canada-000