‘We want closure’: 1 year after Joshua Qiyuk’s death, family still seeking answers

It’s been one year since Joshua Qiyuk was found stabbed to death in Ottawa, and his mother is still asking the same questions.

“I want to find out why, who did it,” Brenda Qiyuk said in an interview Monday, three days before the one-year-anniversary of her son’s death.

Joshua Qiyuk, a 21-year-old Inuk man from Baker Lake, was found dead on Oct. 22, 2025, in Ottawa’s Manor Park neighbourhood.

The city’s police service is still investigating his death. No arrests have been made, said police spokesperson Julie Kavanagh Tuesday in an email.

“We want closure,” Brenda said. “My son’s killer hasn’t been found yet. Where did this killer go? Why did they kill my son, and for what?”

She said investigators visited her in the spring so she could show them routes her son might have taken on his regular walks.

Joshua often walked to unwind after work, sometimes stopping at a nearby convenience store.

On the night he died, Joshua finished work early and spent time at home with Brenda before she went to bed. She was unaware he had gone out for a walk.

Brenda said she later retraced the route herself in April, walking to the spot where his body was discovered, about 600 metres from their Vanier neighbourhood home.

The lack of answers has compounded an already difficult year for the family.

Joshua’s paternal grandfather died of a heart attack in May, followed by Brenda’s brother, both of whom had travelled south from Baker Lake last year to support Brenda.

Brenda said she receives monthly grief counselling and has reached out to elders in Baker Lake for support.

“Me and my family have been going through a really, really rough time emotionally,” she said. “We are trying to keep it together, but we’re also getting a lot of support from the right people.”

Brenda hopes someone will come forward with information that could help investigators.

“My son’s life is gone and now we have to visit his gravesite,” she said.

Joshua was buried in Winnipeg near his paternal grandmother, allowing family members to visit his gravesite more easily.

Joshua’s cousin, Alethea Noah, said the uncertainty has made grieving harder.

“The anger is a part of grief, but when it’s a situation like this, when somebody’s life was taken from them and we don’t know who [did it], and there’s no justice, it definitely heightens the anger,” Noah said.

Noah helped connect Joshua and his older brother Curtis with youth programming at Ottawa’s Inuuqatigiit Centre for Inuit Children, Youth and Families when the family moved to Ottawa in 2019 from New Brunswick. 

“He was the kind of youth who never complained and was just a joy to have around for everybody,” she said.

Joshua went on to study culinary arts at Algonquin College after developing a passion for cooking. He worked at C’est Bon cooking school and Ottawa restaurant Absinthe, where he was proud of his first significant job in the industry, his mother said.

“We need to say his name because he deserves justice,” Noah said. “We can’t forget him and just let him go like that.”

Stefanie Siska, co-owner of C’est Bon Ottawa, said the business will donate 22 per cent of its sales on Oct. 22 to the Joshua Qiyuk Memorial Scholarship and Memorial Bursary at Algonquin College to support Indigenous culinary students.