Students call for alcohol limits in N.W.T. community

Some students in Ulukhaktok, N.W.T., want to limit the amount of alcohol allowed in their community.

More than 80 students have signed a petition askingcommunity leadersto regulate the amount of liquor brought into thehamletof just over 400.

Barbara Memogana, a teacher at the Ulukhaktok's school, said she started the petition because she feels students are being exposed to too much alcohol abuse in their homes.

About 10 years ago, the community established a local alcohol board that reviewed all requests to bring liquor into town. Memogana said she'd like to re-establish a similar board.

The board was dismantled after about a year because community leaders felt it wasn't effective.

Former mayor Gary Bristow saidthe limits on alcohol actually led to an increase of binge drinking in the community.

"People would order, get it through the board and then it would all show up at the same time," Bristow said. "It would create more problems than it solved."

Bristow agrees that alcohol abuse is a problem in the community and said he would support other types of restrictions.

Memogana plans to present the signatures to hamlet council in the coming months.

"I'm just hoping for a lot of support from the community," she said.

Ulukhaktok is located about 925 kilometres north of Yellowknife.