After significantly updating territorial liquor laws three years ago, the NWT government is seeking the public’s opinion on regulations to implement the changes.
In 2023, the GNWT passed amendments to the Liquor Act, the most notable update to the legislation since it came into force in 2008. Many of the changes were informed by recommendations from a 2022 report.
Now, the GNWT has set an October 16 deadline for feedback on proposed regulations that would bring the 2023 Liquor Act into force. There’s information about the proposal on the GNWT’s website. Below is a look at what’s changed.
Licensing board would be scrapped
Up till now, a liquor licensing board has issued, enforced and heard appeals about liquor licences in the NWT.
Under the new act and regulations, a registrar would take over licensing duties. A chief inspector would be created to manage inspectors and recommend whether a licensed premise or event should have their licence cancelled or suspended.
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The licensing board would be replaced with an appeals board dedicated to appeals of decisions made by the registrar and inspectors.
The chief inspector would also be responsible for promoting education and awareness about the Liquor Act and regulations, and creating a SafeEvent certification program that would be required when applying for a special occasion permit.
The GNWT currently offers SafeServe training, which the regulations would now require for anyone selling or serving alcohol and any security staff on site.
Drink limits
Instead of a two drink per customer limit, the regulations propose the following minimum and maximum serving quantities of alcohol for beer, wine, coolers and spirits:
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- 1 fl oz to 3 fl oz for a drink made with spirits;
- under 60 fl oz for a pitcher of beer, wine or cider;
- under 26.4 fl oz for a decanter of wine;
- for tasting flights, 9.5 fl oz for wine, 21.1 fl oz for beer, 6.3 fl oz for cocktails, or 3.2 fl oz for spirits; and
- for samples, 2.1 fl oz for wine, coolers, cider or beer, or 0.53 fl oz for spirits.
Licensing changes
The available liquor licence options get a redesign under the new legislation. New licence classes would be: liquor primary, food primary, liquor incidental, tourism, service club, ferment on premise, and manufacturing.
The ferment on premise licence is a new addition having been recommended in the 2022 report. It would would allow the opening of businesses in the NWT where people can go to make their own alcohol.
The only change to licence extension rules is the removal of the off-premise extension. Additionally, the three special occasion permits have been combined into one permit that can be tailored to an event’s particular needs by adding conditions.
The final notable change affecting residents is you would no longer need an importation certificate if bringing 1.2 litres of alcohol or less into the NWT. If importing more than that, the fees remain the same as in the old regulations.
Increasing community agency
The proposed regulations introduce more powers for community governments to control how liquor is sold in their communities.
They also limit each community to one local authority empowered to make decisions about alcohol, whether that is a municipal council or another authority identified by the minister. If a community has a municipal council and band council, they can no longer act independently.
The regulations continue to allow council to pass bylaws that allow or restrict certain liquor licence classes and restrict their operating hours and days (under the new regulations, licensed premises will be allowed to operate on all Sundays and holidays unless restricted by a community’s bylaw).
Councils can also restrict or prohibit selling or serving alcohol in outside or seasonal spaces, prohibit liquor sales for off-premise consumption, and prohibit minors from providing entertainment in a licensed premise.
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But bylaws can also now restrict activities at licensed premises, restrict or prohibit ferment-on-premises licences, and control where and how many liquor stores operate in a community and what liquor they can sell.
The proposed regulations also specify the process by which a liquor licence is issued in the NWT’s smaller communities, beyond Yellowknife and the regional hubs.
Lastly, the regulations limit temporary prohibition orders to 30 days. (These orders are sometimes used by communities to try to restrict the flow of alcohol around major events or at certain times of year.)
An application for a temporary prohibition order must be submitted 15 days before it begins and a new one cannot be issued less than 15 days before one ends, unless the minister decides to accept applications with less notice or shorten the time between temporary prohibition orders.
