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By Gena
Fisher
Staff reporter
From the outside, the garage looks like any other on the road. But
inside, the decor resembles a first-year college student's apartment,
with a scarce amount of worn-out furniture and an inviting fridge
full of beer.
Jack (his name has been changed to protect his identity) has been
selling alcohol illegally in P.E.I. since 1994. It's called bootlegging,
derived from the smuggler's practice of concealing bottles in their
boots.
Jack got into the business following a serious accident.
"I was incapable of maintaining a job in the workplace due
to health reasons," he said. "I would have lost my house
if I hadn't done it."
He had bills to pay, he had to live and he didn't want to go on
social assistance. So he turned to the family business.
"Being a bootlegger's son, I knew all the ins and outs. It's
kind of like music, it gets in your blood."
Jack is the third generation of his family who have made the Maritime
tradition of bootlegging their business.
"Dad ran moonshine and my grandfather was a rum-runner in the
time of Prohibition."
It's an old tradition and it has earned a level of acceptance even
with the ladies of the Island.
The new West Point Trails cook book lists one woman's recipe for
Tia Maria with moonshine as the main ingredient.
Bootlegging became popular when Prohibition was enacted across Canada
from 1915-17 under the War Measures Act. Its purpose was to save
grain and fruit for people to eat during the First World War.
Prohibition lasted from 1901 to the 1920s in some parts of Canada.
Some provinces only lasted four years.
In the United States, Prohibition went into effect in 1920 and lasted
13 years. Rum-running was the illegal smuggling of booze by enterprising
fisherman.
The Nova Scotian schooner the Nellie J. Banks deposited burlap bags
filled with alcohol in P.E.I. more than once. The Arethusa, owned
by Captain William McCoy, was known to be a floating liquor store
with free samples and a machine gun on deck.
McCoy's liquor was not watered-down but the "real McCoy."Jack's
place has its place in history too, says Alec, a customer at the
bar. Five years ago a TV crew out of Ottawa C-PAC toured the place.
"They made a two-hour documentary on East coast music and traditions
for advertising tourism to the Island," Alec said.
"Regularly I have jams and a crowd comes over and we play some
great music," Jack explained.
Alec takes credit for helping get Jack in the business.
"I remember years ago when he was wondering whether to do it
or not, I told him, I think you should. It's part of your heritage,
your birthright," Alec said.
Bootlegging in the P.E.I. may have a long history, but it is illegal.
"In general terms it is illegal to sell or keep for sale liquor,"
said Richard Collins, deputy chief of the Charlottetown police department.
"Bootlegging is happening on the Island, I know it's happening
in Charlottetown but to what extent it's happening outside of Charlottetown,
I don't know."
Violators of the Liquor Control Act face a fine of up to $2,000.
Jack says he's never been busted, but he figures if he was he'd
get a $2,000 fine, have all of his booze taken away and be black
listed for a year, which means he couldn't have any liquor in his
house. He's right."If you are caught selling liquor in your
residence,
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Jack
displays his fridge of many flavours. His face is blurred because
what he does is a tradition, but it is illegal. (Fisher photo)
you
end up on what's called the Royal Gazette. It's like a judicial
newsletter published by the Queen's Printer, a public document,"
Collins said.
This allows the police to enter a home any time without a warrant
to search and seize all alcohol for a year.
Jack just shrugs his shoulders.
"Every time Dad got busted he'd put the house in Mom's name.
It kept the lawyers happy." Moonshine, the homemade potato
mash liquor his father distilled, is illegal too.
For good reason, said Constable Terry Totten, of the Charlottetown
federal section of the RCMP.
"It is regulated for revenue reasons and for the safety of
the public. If moonshine isn't made correctly it can turn into methyl
alcohol and cause a person to go blind," Totten, said.
Jack doesn't deal with shine. He does offer beer of many kinds and
shots of whiskey or rum for $2.50 each. There's also buttered popcorn
for $2 a bag, ginger ale or Pepsi for those who come to listen to
the music and not drink alcohol.
And there's a microwave if a Tim Horton's coffee needs to be heated.
It all seems so respectable.
"Now that I have my pension and have money to live on it's
only a hobby now, Jack said with a smile. "There's basically
two kinds of bootleggingþthere's the ones who do it for money and
the ones who do it for a living," Jack says.
The difference is the ones who do it for a living are respectable.
"You can call me respectable but not for a long time,"
he laughed.
As he stands serving people from behind the bar of the room adjacent
to his house others play music at a table he's reserved just for
them.
Jokingly he points to an old Anne of Green Gables licence plate
and says, "Look I even have a licence."
There is a lot Jack can say about the people he's met and the good
times he's had, but all jokes aside there's not a lot of good that
comes from bootlegging, he said.
"I'll bet a bartender from a legal establishment would tell
you the same thing. What do you expect when you're working with
alcohol," he said. "It's hard on your nerves, it burns
you out and you miss out on a lot of things because of your reputation.
People shy away from you."
The worst part is giving people credit who don't pay their bills,
he said.
Some people think what I do is wrong and have lost respect for me,"
he said. "Now I'm just keeping the tradition going, I don't
do it for the money."
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