Police Officer

This morning I went to the town office and police station. At the town office we wanted to introduce our project (for details please refer to ) and ask for a pilot school (school we will interact regularly via satellite phone and the Internet) from Nunavut. But we were told that all elementary school teachers were gone to a big conference held at Iqualuit, the capital of Nunavut and they won't be back until this Saturday. So we have to wait until then.

At the police station also we introduced ourselves and finished paper works for emergency information. Policemen stationed here are changed every few years. The police officer who we met today (I will surely remember his name next time I meet him) was from Ontario and his father is of mixed blood between French and Native American and his mother is a mix of Scotland, England, and Ireland

I noticed his shoe laces were being loosen up and this suggests that there are not many emergency operations in this town. Not only that while we were talking he actually took off his boots and started to walk in his socks on carpet. I think this is usually considered a breach of discipline because what if I were a dangerous individual disguised as a nice, harmless person?

When I asked him if there is much work to do in this town, he showed me case files and said he is quite busy writing daily report of the cases such as snow-damaged house and drunk driving¹.

And also he said that when an airplane arrives at the airport, he go and check the visitors, but I think he wasn't there when we arrived in Resolute Bay. He is also coaching high school students at a gym after work, and this is a volunteer work. He is a tall and big-boned man.

The police car is big and four-wheel-drive, but the right side-mirror was broken. I was surprised to see the police riding an ill-serviced vehicle. It intrigues me every time I find the differences between Japan where I come from and the visiting countries. I think this is a fascinating part of visiting foreign lands.

¹

Drinking in Nunavut used to be allowed only in the capital city of Iqaluit. Today most of the towns in Nunavut, including Resolute Bay, still normally do not allow drinking. However you can drink legally with a proper permit, which said to be very hard to obtain unless you are visitors. Local people say it is almost impossible to get the permit themselves, so when they want to drink they have to go to either Iqaluit or Yellowknife. I wonder what is the reason for the prohibition: Is it a preventive measure for alcohol related problems among the youth? Or is the number of alcohol dependency among the Inuit population increasing? Is it a countermeasure against it? I will try to find out the reason while I stay in Nunavut untill this June.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police at Resolute Bay