September 21, 2001

Nunavut’s cop count to increase

RCMP V Division to grow by 14 officers

ALISON BLACKDUCK
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT — Nunavut is getting a new crop of cops.

An increasing population, protecting officer safety in the communities, and a renewed emphasis on restorative justice are three reasons why 14 new RCMP officers will soon start working in Nunavut.

Premier Paul Okalik announced Tuesday that the RCMP’s V Division will receive $3.5 million from the territorial Department of Justice to pay for the services of those new officers — two of whom will be assigned to a new detachment in Repulse Bay.

The GN provides 70 per cent of V Division’s annual budget, or $13.96 million of the division’s total budget of about $16 million this year.

The RCMP contracts local policing services to governments in territories, provinces and some municipalities. But some services like drug enforcement and basic administration are the fiscal responsibility of the federal government.

The new officers will be assigned to detachments in Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk, Arviat, Grise Fjord, Kugaaruk and Kimmirut.

An additional six officers will be assigned to work in Iqaluit as relief staff for those working in the communities.

“Most of the officers working in the smaller communities never get a chance to relax because new expectations are placed on them every day,” said Vern White, the V Division’s commanding officer.

Officer safety is another concern, since an RCMP constable was shot and killed in Cape Dorset last February.

According to a GN press release, the new minimum standard is two officers per detachment. Both the GN and the RCMP say they want that standard upheld.

White said that Okalik’s announcement of new money wasn’t a surprise, because negotiations began last April as part of a resource review. That review finished last June.

“I want to emphasize that this was a collaborative effort with the government, the detachments, and the association of municipalities,” White said.

White said everybody involved in those negotiations had the same concerns: improving basic policing services, an increasing emphasis on preventative and restorative justice, and more Inuktitut-speaking officers.

According to Okalik’s press secretary, Annette Bourgeois, there are 13 Inuit working as special constables, and three working as public servants for the RCMP in Nunavut.

However, she stressed that a number of non-Inuit working for the RCMP have varying degrees of fluency in Inuktitut.

Currently, there are 75 RCMP officers working in Nunavut.