[IPSM] [Mackenzie/Deh Cho] Pipeline expected to bring gangs, drugs

[Macdonald Stainsby]

Pipeline expected to bring gangs, drugs
WebPosted Feb 2 2005 12:07 AM MST
CBC News
http://north.cbc.ca

INUVIK, N.W.T. - Police in Inuvik are warning that if a pipeline comes to
the Mackenzie Delta, drugs and organized crime will come too.

Inuvik could see an influx of organized crime, RCMP warn
RCMP Staff Sgt. Sid Gray says biker gangs like the Hell's Angels are known
to operate in boomtowns like Fort McMurray and Lloydminister, Alta.

"It'd be naive of us to think that the organized crime would not show up
here - whether to work on the pipeline, or in a business, or operate on
the periphery and pick away at people who do have money."

During Inuvik's last petroleum boom, in the 1970s, the drug business
boomed too, as thousands of young men from southern Canada came North to
make money and party.

Aklavik resident Richard Gordon, who got his first job washing dishes at
one of the oil camps in 1974, says narcotics were everywhere.

"I never knew about drugs until I was out on the oil rigs where the
southerners come out and talk about it," Gordon says. "You don't want to
look dumb so you learn about it pretty darn quick. But it wasn't anything
hard - just marijuana."

Imperial Oil has assessed the social and environmental impacts of the
proposed pipeline, but it hasn't looked specifically at organized crime.

Company spokesperson Hart Searle says they'll meet with police in Inuvik
on the issue.

--
Macdonald Stainsby
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green
In the contradiction lies the hope.
--Brecht.