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Dismissed GN director seeks damage award

Former healing centre boss claims $700,000 award

JOHN THOMPSON

Helen Larocque, the former director of Kugluktuk’s Illuvut correctional centre, is seeking more than $700,000 in damages from the Government of Nunavut in a statement of claim filed Sept. 15 at the Nunavut Court of Justice.

Larocque lost her job with the highly-touted correctional centre in August 2005, after she and her sister were both charged in early July 2005 with entering the home of Pauline Bolt and assaulting the woman.

Bolt, who is a sister-in-law of Larocque and Pigalak, was treated in the Kugluktuk Health Centre following the assault and later medevaced to Stanton Hospital in Yellowknife, where she spent the next five days recovering from injuries including a ruptured eardrum and bruised chest and hip.

Bolt later told a court that the two women woke her up in her home, dragged her off her living room couch, repeatedly punched her in the face and pushed a 27-inch television off a table and on to her.

In February this year Larocque was found not guilty of unlawfully entering a home and aggravated assault.

Justice Robert Kilpatrick said there was enough evidence to convict Larocque of aiding and abetting her sister, who pleaded guilty to assaulting Bolt and was given a conditional sentence of six months.

But Bolt was too drunk at the time of the attack to provide credible testimony on Larocque’s involvement, creating reasonable doubt and leading Kilpatrick to find Larocque not guilty.

Larocque has retained the services of Steven Cooper of Ahlstrom Wright Oliver & Cooper, an Edmonton-based law firm, to sue the GN for wrongful dismissal.

Cooper says the GN broke its own rules when dealing with Larocque.

“I don’t think they followed anything that could be seen as due process,” he said during an interview last Tuesday. “What they did was wrong.”

Following Larocque’s arrest in July, the GN suspended her for 30 days with pay. Then she was suspended for eight days without pay.

Then, in mid-August, Larocque was fired, the statement of claim says, after the department of justice found Larocque was “substantially involved in the alleged events.”

Cooper says the GN gave Larocque no opportunity to respond to the allegations she faced during its investigation, and did not properly evaluate her case before firing her.

“We have innuendos. We have rumours. We have insinuated allegations,” Cooper said.

Cooper also said Larocque’s treatment demonstrates that a “double standard” exists between unionized and non-unionized employees.

“The bottom line is they should be treating all employees equally,” he said.

The damages being asked for in the statement of claim include $300,000 for punitive, aggravated, or exemplary damages. Cooper said that takes into consideration the fact that Laroque will have difficulty finding comparable work, in either Nunavut or the NWT, following her highly-publicized suspension and dismissal.

“Quite frankly, she’s trying to keep a low profile. This has really cut her to the core,” Cooper said.

The statement of claim also asks for $200,000 for “severe mental stress and anguish” caused by losing her job and becoming socially isolated in Kugluktuk, and $200,000 for payment in lieu of notice, including lost salary and benefits. Laroqcue is also asking for any out-of-pocket expenses and costs.

No statement of defence has yet been filed by the GN.

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