Around Nunavut
May
20, 2005
Hall Beach man charged
with assault
A Hall Beach man faces
charges after a woman was attacked and sexually assaulted last week. She was
medevaced to Ottawa after the incident.
Police were called to a
residence in the community around 7 a.m. on May 9, to help with a woman who
needed medical attention.
RCMP Cpl. Scott Ksionzyk
said the cause of her injuries "came to light" after they arrived
at the building.
Police arrested her common-law
husband a few hours later, following an investigation by the RCMP's major crime
unit and forensic specialists.
Ksionzyk said the 29-year-old
woman was still recovering in an Ottawa hospital days after the attack.
"I know she's doing
much better," he said. "We were concerned about her situation."
Kevin Pilakapsi, 36, appeared
in the Iqaluit courthouse on May 12, on charges of aggravated sexual assault,
aggravated assault and forcible confinement.
His case was adjourned
until June 7. He remains in police custody.
May
20, 2005
Regan moves slowly
on marine fees
Geoff Regan, the minister
responsible for the Coast Guard, has asked the Arctic Marine Advisory Board
to give him a proposal setting out a "business case" stating why Arctic
shipping companies should be exempt from paying marine service fees, but the
board has refused to do so.
That's because the marine
advisory board is still insisting that the imposition of those fees violates
the government's own policy, established around 1997.
That policy, created when
Ottawa first began to charge the fees, states that fees will not apply to the
provision of marine services North of 60.
Nearly all marine shipping
firms serving Nunavut sail from southern ports to northern destinations.
The marine services board,
backed by the Nunavut legislative assembly and a variety of Inuit organizations,
has hired an Ottawa lobbyist to pressure the government into exempting northern
sealift services from having to pay marine service fees, saying it increases
the cost of living for northern consumers.
May
13, 2005
Autopsy finds cold cause of death
Police have declared alcohol was a "significant" factor in the freezing
death of a Canadian Ranger in Qikiqtarjuaq last year.
Jassie Kooneeliusie's body was found beside the Northern store on Dec. 22.
after he went missing for about three days.
Autopsy results were released last week. They list cold exposure, as the cause
of death, with "ethanol intoxication" as a significant contributing
factor.
May
13, 2005
Arrests made in Iqaluit break-ins
Police have charged two Iqaluit men in connection with a recent break-in at
the Nunavut Court of Justice.
The two men are accused of breaking into the court building on April 14 by
prying a rear door open, and stealing money inside.
When investigators searched the men's residence in Iqaluit on April 22, they
recovered several stolen items. They included carvings, playstation games, DVDs,
and two DVD players.
Shortly after, they were charged with breaking-and-entering.
During the search, police also recovered two ivory walrus tusks stolen from
the museum on April 10. The tusks were etched in the 1960s by renowned Kimmirut
carver, Davidee Itulu.
Museum staff said robbers entered the back of the building after cutting the
phone lines and disabling the alarm system.
The two men haven't been charged in connection with the museum break-in.
Eliyah Jonah and Billy Kakee appeared in the Iqaluit courtroom on charges of
break-and-enter late last month.
One man also faces charges in a break-in at the offices of Nunavut Construction
Corp., building 1553.
May
6, 2005
Two men believed drowned near Cape Dorset
Police believe two men drowned while snowmobiling near Cape Dorset after a
hunting trip last week.
RCMP called off the search for the men last Sunday.
Usuittuq Jaw, 25, was hunting for ptarmigan in the area four days earlier,
but failed to come back before nightfall as he had planned.
The next day, two search-and-rescue volunteers found Jaw in a cabin about 80
kilometres outside the community. Police say the three men were supposed to
stay there and wait until Saturday morning, before attempting to come home.
Instead, they decided to leave at night.
Jaw and one of his rescuers drove a snowmobile ahead of the third man, who
lost sight of them along the way.
He stopped and looked for the missing men, and then returned to Cape Dorset.
Several more search teams tried finding them, without success.
Spotters in an RCMP plane later saw a snowmobile trail leading to the water
where the men were last seen. There was no debris or any other sign of the missing
men.
Police investigators say the men likely drove into the open water and drowned.
Police are withholding the name of the 35-year-old man who died with Jaw, citing
the family's wish for privacy.
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