Accused in Mountie shooting to stand trial in Iqaluit Monday

Mourners form a human chain around the Iqaluit RCMP detachment during a service in memory of RCMP officer Douglas Scott. The 20-year old Mountie died after being shot while on duty in Kimmirut, Nov. 5, 2007. (FILE PHOTO)

Pingoatuk Kolola will stand trial starting Monday in the shooting death of an RCMP officer in Kimmirut nearly two and a half years ago.

Kolola, now 39, faces a charge of first-degree murder in connection with the killing of Douglas Scott, 20, on Nov. 5, 2007.

Crown lawyer Susanne Boucher said most of the jury was selected in Kimmirut Friday and the remainder will be chosen from an alternate panel in Iqaluit Monday.

Kimmirut members of the 12-person jury will be flown back to their community on weekends, Boucher wrote in an email.

“The plan right now is to fly the jurors to Iqaluit on Sunday nights and have them stay in Iqaluit hearing evidence until the Friday of the week, and returning home again for the weekend.”

Twenty witnesses are expected to testify during the trial, which is scheduled to run until the first week of March, Boucher added.

Scott was shot in the head shortly before midnight on Nov. 5, 2007 while responding to a complaint about a drunk driver. He was arrested early the next morning after a brief standoff with police.

Scott’s death stunned both Nunavut and Brockville, Ontario, Scott’s hometown. Thousands of police from across North America turned out for Scott’s funeral there, which virtually brought the city’s downtown to a standstill.

“Doug earned the red serge, he wore it with pride, any police force would have been lucky to have him. He was the quintessential police officer,” said RCMP Const. David Charette at Scott’s funeral.

In Nunavut, residents in Kimmirut and Iqaluit held ceremonies to mourn Scott’s death, with hundreds of Iqaluit residents praying and forming a human chain around the RCMP detachment.

And the death rocked Kimmirut, where the boyish Scott was well-liked, especially by the town’s young people.

“It’s a two-pronged sword,” said Larry Collins, principal of the hamlet’s Qaqqalik School at the time. “We’re dealing with the death on one side and then of course the family of the person who’s accused of doing it.”