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Violent attack on woman shakes Pangnirtung

"We are very determined that her suffering not be in vain"

SARA MINOGUE

Residents in the normally peaceful hamlet of Pangnirtung are locking their doors and fearing for their lives after a brutal late-night attack on a newcomer for which no suspect had been found even nine days after the attack. (PHOTO BY GREG YOUNGER-LEWIS)

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A 31-year-old woman is in critical condition in an Ottawa hospital after a brutal beating cut short her summer job in Pangnirtung just seven weeks after she started.

Crystal Smith, originally from New Waterford, Nova Scotia, was working on a degree in social work at the University of Calgary when she was hired by Northern Properties.

Her assignment was to find tenants for seven company properties that had been vacant for two or three years, said Jim Britton, president and CEO of Northern Properties.

Instead, she was violently attacked while inside one of the vacant, boarded-up homes where she was living during the night of Monday, June 20.

Smith managed to crawl to a neighbor's house and make enough noise to be heard on the porch. The neighbor opened the door to find Smith covered in blood and barely dressed.

"It's a terrible, terrible business," Britton said from his Calgary office.

"We just hope that she recovers from this terrible assault. We're following the situation with her family very closely. We all got to know her fairly well in her short period of time with us, and we're devastated."

At least nine days after the attack and at Nunatsiaq News press time on Wednesday afternoon, RCMP had not laid charges or identified a suspect or suspects.

Mayor Jack Maniapik took a break from his work on Tuesday to describe the atmosphere in the community.

"Everybody's hurt. Everybody's shocked," Maniapik said. "A lot of people are scared that they might be the next one."

That fear didn't stop several people from reporting tips on suspicious behavior to hamlet councilors, who volunteered on the radio to relay anonymous information to the police from people who did not feel comfortable going to the RCMP, for fear of retribution.

"Even the guys are scared of that," Maniapik said.

Maniapik said he can't recall such a shocking crime ever taking place in the community.

"We get break-ins sometimes, the odd fight, but every community goes through that," he said.

Maniapik, who served as chairman of the local housing authority for four years before becoming mayor in December, said he was concerned that Smith's living conditions contributed to the attack. Smith was living in a single-story boarded-up house whose windows were still covered in plywood when the attack occurred.

"It was all nailed shut. To me, that's a trap," Maniapik said. "Most of us didn't know there was someone living in there. I'd be scared to live in a boarded-up house."

The hamlet started collecting donations for the victim last week, and announced it would match funds up to $400. This past Tuesday, residents were still dropping by the hamlet office to make contributions and sign a card for flowers.

"We know she won't be coming out from the hospital right away," Maniapik said.

Smith's job with Northern Properties was a special social work assignment to get people who badly need homes into housing.

While seven Northern Properties units lie vacant, the Pangnirtung Housing Association has 74 people on its waiting list for homes.

"She was there trying to do something important to help people out that are in need of housing," Britton said.

Now, Britton isn't certain whether the special project will be completed, but did say that "we are very determined that her suffering not be in vain."

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