Coroner to hold inquest into 2009 death of Iqaluit man

A long-awaited inquest into the circumstances surrounding the 2009 death of Adamie Nutaraluk at RCMP cells in Iqaluit will go ahead March 12 to March 16, the Office the Chief Coroner said Feb. 3.

Nutaraluk, 56, died on the morning of Dec. 9, 2009 inside an RCMP cell, after police found him in an unresponsive state.

An ambulance rushed him to the Qikiqtani General Hospital, but health workers were unable to revive him.

Over the previous 24 hours, police had arrested and detained Nutaraluk twice for intoxication.

In 2007, while serving a sentence at Baffin Correctional Centre, Nutaraluk gave a long interview to Nunatsiaq News.

In it, he said the trauma he suffered as a child at the Hamilton Mountain Sanatorium, where he was sent for tuberculosis treatment around the age of five, robbed him of his language and filled him with anger for his entire life.

Nutaraluk left a wife in Kuujjuaraapik, six children, and numerous relatives across the eastern Arctic.

The chief coroner says anyone wishing to participate or make representations at the inquest may call 1-867-975-7292.