Family members, RCMP testify at start of Nunavut suicide inquest

Nunavut’s chief coroner, Padma Suramala (far left), her legal counsel, Sheldon Toner, and Northwest Territories coroner Garth Eggenberger at a press conference in Iqaluit Sept. 10. Eggenberger is presiding over an inquest into Nunavut’s high suicide rates which began Sept. 14 and is expected to last two weeks. (PHOTO BY THOMAS ROHNER)

The coroner’s inquest into Nunavut’s persistently high suicide rates got underway in Iqaluit Sept. 14 with the family of an 11-year old suicide victim from Repulse Bay describing for the inquest’s jury the aftermath of the young boy’s death.

Antonio “Rex” Uttak died by suicide on Aug. 10, 2013, but his mother, grandmother and aunt all testified that he was a happy child and that the suicide came as a shock.

“He was my baby, and he hugged me all the time. It was true love. I don’t know what was wrong with him,” Martha Uttak, Rex’s mother, said at the Nunavut Court of Justice Sept. 14.

“He was such a happy boy… he used to come to my apartment to play with his cousins almost every day,” said Mary-Ann Uttak, Rex’s aunt.

“We have no clue what happened to him,” said Rex’s grandmother, Bernadette Uttak. “The healing is never done, can never be done.”

Nunavut’s chief coroner called a discretionary inquest in January 2014 after revealing that suicide had claimed 45 lives — including Rex’s — in 2013.

Garth Eggenberger, the inquest’s presiding coroner, oversaw the selection of a six-member jury, with two alternate jurors, on the morning of Sept. 14.

The job of the jury, whose members include Inuit and non-Inuit, is to listen to evidence over the next two weeks from families touched by suicide, government staff, Inuit organizations and academics and then to come up with recommendations on how to control Nunavut’s suicide crisis, Eggenberger explained.

Around 10 lawyers representing different parties filled the courtroom, along with RCMP officers and social workers, as Rex’s aunt described the events leading up to the boy’s death.

Rex was one of 18 family members staying at his grandmother’s place — a four-bedroom house in Naujaat — when he died by suicide, Mary-Ann explained.

But it was at his aunt’s nearby house where Rex’s body was discovered on the morning of Aug. 10, 2013, his aunt added.

Mary-Ann said she arrived home the previous night to find Rex and one of his cousins sleeping on the living room couches.

“I touched both of them on the face and said, ‘good night’,” Mary-Ann said.

Her husband discovered Rex’s lifeless body the next morning, dragging his nephew to the kitchen floor and performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, to revive him.

Mary-Ann said she immediately called the local health centre.

“I couldn’t say anything, so when they answered, I started yelling. I couldn’t find my words, I was just screaming.”

Her husband took the phone from her, so Mary-Ann said she started performing CPR on her nephew, and her husband then went outside the house looking for help.

But after 10 minutes of CPR, Mary-Ann said her nephew wasn’t responding.

“Me and my two kids were alone in the house with my little nephew laying on the floor and I couldn’t stand it anymore. So I went outside and I was yelling for help for maybe 15 or 20 minutes.”

Cpl. Terry Burns testified Sept. 14 that he arrived at the house shortly after receiving a call from the local health centre, around 9:30 a.m.

Rex’s family spoke of coping with intense grief, not only from Rex’s suicide but from the suicide of two of his brothers — including one just four months after Rex’s death — and of the brutal murder of Rex’s sister, Tracy Uttak, in Igloolik in November 2012.

Rex’s grandmother, Bernadette, said the inquest should have been held sooner.

“As Inuit, we try to make peace with the death of an individual, and it is very difficult when you are at peace now, and you have to take stuff backwards… like it just happened recently,” she said.

“As a mother and grandmother… it’s like we’re going to be blamed. You think, what did I do wrong as a parent or as a grandmother?”

Rex’s mother, Martha, said community members sometimes made her feel guilty in the comments they made after the boy’s suicide.

“I was told that I don’t have enough love, and I was blamed… I was told it was my fault, that I need more love.”

Many of the questions posed by lawyers at the inquest focused on the aftermath of Rex’s death and how similar tragedies can be avoided.

“[Children] have to be talked to more when they’re younger, to let them know you love them all the time… because the hope is only by love,” Martha said.

Cpl. Burns, answering questions from lawyers, testified that the RCMP in Nunavut do not receive any cultural training specific to Inuit, nor any mandatory training focusing on suicide prevention.

And while the RCMP provides training to their members on how to notify next-of-kin when someone dies, that training does not specifically cover situations of suicide.

Testimony began in the late afternoon Sept. 14 on the death of Clyde Akumalik, the son of Iqaluit councillor Joanasie Akumalik, who died by suicide in June 2013.

The inquest continues Sept. 15 when suicide researcher and academic Jack Hicks is expected to testify.

Social workers are available throughout the inquest at the Iqaluit courthouse, as well as at all community health centres, for people struggling with suicidal thoughts.

People who are dealing with pain and grief can also contact the Kamatsiaqtut help line in Iqaluit at (867) 979-3333 or toll-free at 1(800) 265-3333.