This Cabinet Minister Quit Because a Dry Community in Canada Is Getting a Liquor Store

"My name is Paul and I'm an alcoholic."

With those words, the health and justice minister in Canada's youngest, and northern-most territory exposed the deeply personal side of what has already been an emotionally-charged issue in Nunavut: the opening of the first beer and wine store in the capital of Iqaluit in four decades.

Paul Okalik took his last drink on June 11, 1991, and on Thursday he quit his post in the cabinet of the territorial government, citing irreconcilable differences.

"I cannot support an institution of selling beer and wine in my community, while we don't have the facilities to support those who may not be able to combat their addictions," Okalik, a former premier, said.

Access to alcohol has been a longstanding point of contention in Nunavut, a vast region that represents one-fifth of Canada's landmass with just 32,000 inhabitants, most of them Inuit.

Alcoholism, crime, and a thriving bootlegging industry led to calls on the government to ease restrictions on the purchase of booze, which varies across the territory.

In Iqaluit, which shuttered its lone liquor store in the 1970s at the behest of angry citizens, people can have alcohol shipped to a heavily secured government warehouse, or they can apply for a liquor permit and order it directly. Other communities have established committees that regulate who can buy liquor, how much, and how often, while others prohibit it entirely.

And yet, binge drinking is seen as one of the big societal issues in a territory wracked by suicide, whose indigenous people endured the effects of residential schools, and saw their once nomadic existence melt away, sometimes through forced relocations.

Opening up a store in Iqaluit has been pitched as a way to change a practice of "guzzling" hard liquor to one of drinking beer and wine. The local police predict a store will help curb bootlegging, but could lead to an initial spike of calls to their detachment.

A plebiscite on the issue last year returned overwhelming support — 77.5 percent of ballots were in favor of retail beer and wine sales.

Watch VICE Canada's documentary, Prohibition in Northern Canada:

"Bootlegging is rampant, and I think that to me is one of the most negative impacts on this territory," George H. Hickes, a member of the legislative assembly, told VICE in a 2015 documentary about prohibition in the north.

"There's a lot of people here who just haven't been educated on how to drink responsibly."

In an email, he said he supports access to beverages that have a lower alcohol content, and said a pilot project would provide data to measure the impact of such a store.

"I feel that we need to follow the recommendation of the Liquor Taskforce and the will of the people that voted in the plebiscite last year, that access to beer and wine could be a way to give people safer options than buying hard liquor from bootleggers," Hickes wrote in an email to VICE News.

Still, debate has remained fierce, with many opponents packing a town hall meeting in 2014, telling stories of alcoholism that ravaged their families the last time a liquor store was open in Iqaluit, when it was known as Frobisher Bay.

At a gathering of the legislative assembly this week, officials indicated that the government is still figuring out how to open a beer and wine store in the capital. Finance Minister Keith Peterson said the government wants to put programs in place before proceeding, noting that people are very worried that "alcohol has been bad for Nunavut."

In an interview Friday with CBC, Okalik said that he isn't opposed to beer and wine stores, but doesn't think Iqaluit is ready.

"When I was going through my experience, there was no real local capacity to support me," he said, adding that programs that support addicts need to be in place first.

"The rush to open a beer and wine store would set us back, and I could not just sit there and accept something like that," he said. "I have my limits, and I'm here for my fellow citizens."

Follow Natalie Alcoba on Twitter: @nataliealcoba