The collateral victims of alcohol smuggling and consumption are often women and children. Janice Berthe managed to escape the clutches of an abusive and alcoholic spouse before it was too late.
• Read also: Smugglers make up to 10 000 $ per week reselling alcohol and cannabis in Nunavik
“For almost eight years I was mistreated. Every time we drank he would beat me. He started yelling at me and pushing me. In March, he almost beat me to death,” confides the young woman who is raising her six-year-old son and two-year-old daughter alone.
She denounced her ex-partner and considers that all this violence is linked to smuggling and the consumption of alcohol and drugs. “A lot of it is alcohol that is the problem. Drug and alcohol trafficking currently affects this entire community. It is enormous! It’s getting dangerous. There are so many people who are addicted. They fight and don’t remember what they did. This is completely crazy!”
Violence responsible for both physical and psychological consequences. “Women and children are mistreated, kicked out of their homes, often end up in hospital! Everyone knows what’s going on! It’s happening before the children’s eyes.” According to the organization Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, 74% of Inuit women report having been victims of violence at home.
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Madame Berthe holds the resellers partly responsible, who are also witnesses to all this distress. “The community is filled with bootleggers. I think there are hundreds! They destroy their families, their friendships, even their jobs. This is really not right.”
The majority of crimes in Kuujjuaq are committed under the influence of alcohol.
Marie-Claude Desfossés-Paradis
A few streets further, a well-known smuggler in Kuujjuaq explains himself, on condition of anonymity. “I can only tell you that even if I stop, people come back for more and tell me to keep going. They want it [de l’alcool] and if it’s not me, others will take over.”
Crime in Nunavik in a few figures
- A crime rate 20 times higher than in Montreal.
- If it were a country, Nunavik would rank in the top 5 deadliest in the world.
- Domestic violence represents 60% of all crimes against the person.
- Between 71% and 74% of all criminal offenses are committed under the influence of alcohol