{"id":24727,"date":"2025-07-26T05:00:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T05:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/24727\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T05:00:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T05:00:12","slug":"safety-concerns-prompt-renewed-push-for-community-liaison-role-in-cambridge-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/24727\/","title":{"rendered":"Safety concerns prompt renewed push for community liaison role in Cambridge Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cambridge Bay is seeking funding to join a new community safety pilot program, as concerns about public safety linger in the wake of a violent assault earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Three men face charges<\/a> including aggravated assault, forcible confinement and drug trafficking following a July 8 incident that sent two men to an Edmonton hospital with serious injuries. A fourth suspect has been charged with two counts of assault.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath, unconfirmed rumours about an armed threat and possible lockdown spread quickly through the community.<\/p>\n

A town hall meeting<\/a> was later held by local and territorial leaders where residents voiced their concerns and leaders proposed ideas to improve safety.<\/p>\n

One possibility raised during the meeting was to introduce a community safety liaison officer trained to address concerns before they escalate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a situation like Cambridge Bay, community consultation was missing,\u201d said Marla Limousin, executive director of the Nunavut Association of Municipalities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe [community safety liaison officers], who are employees of the municipality, could have organized that town hall meeting as soon as concerns started to develop.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

A former senior administrative officer in Cambridge Bay, Rankin Inlet, and Pond Inlet, Limousin said senior administrative officers can be overburdened when a state of emergency is declared.<\/p>\n

She said the officer can help by taking on critical tasks such as managing the emergency command centre and supporting the mayor with media and community communications.<\/p>\n

\u201c[They] would help eliminate the rumour, address the fear, and work toward the resolve,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The community safety liaison two-year pilot program was launched this spring by Nunavut Association of Municipalities with $1.8 million in federal funding. It operates in four communities: Gjoa Haven, Pond Inlet, Kugaaruk and Baker Lake.<\/p>\n

Cambridge Bay had hoped to be one of the pilot communities, but missed the April 7 application deadline. The hamlet is now looking for other streams for funding, Cambridge Bay Mayor Wayne Gregory said.<\/p>\n

Each liaison officer is a full-time employee trained to co-ordinate responses to events such as fires, floods and search-and-rescue operations, Limousin said.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

They work closely with RCMP detachments, fire departments, health centres, justice services and territorial and federal partners such as the Canadian Coast Guard, Canadian Rangers and victim services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese liaison officers aren\u2019t emergency responders,\u201d Limousin said. \u201cThey are trained to help address the non-emergency safety concerns, and work closely with residents and services to provide de-escalation before it becomes a crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The four liaison officers who have taken on the role have backgrounds in mental health care, emergency management and policing, said Sara Rylott, who helps facilitate training through her Yellowknife-based consulting firm Civic Connections.<\/p>\n

Rylott helped develop a 200-page handbook that outlines the first three months of the role, as well as how to organize community safety weeks and awareness campaigns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important quality is leadership, but also caring about the community and knowing when to reach out to resources,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Limousin said she hopes the role becomes a fully funded position under the Government of Nunavut by next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully next year, there\u2019s a nice announcement that all communities, if they need this position, will have funding available for it \u2014 and the possibility of expanding it across the region,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cambridge Bay is seeking funding to join a new community safety pilot program, as concerns about public safety…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-24727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}