Deputy chief coroner: Nunavut man dies in police custody

A Kugluktuk youth who was in police custody died on Sept. 19. (FILE PHOTO)

(Updated on Sept. 26, 3:30 p.m.)

Nunavut’s coroner’s office is investigating the in-custody death of a 22-year-old Kugluktuk man.

The man, whose identity has not been released, died in Yellowknife on Sept. 19, after being medevaced there from the western Nunavut community.

That medical flight followed an incident that occurred while the man was held in police custody in Kugluktuk, a community of about 1,500 people.

“The incident happened in Nunavut, in Kugluktuk. Then he went to Yellowknife through a medevac and then he died there,” Nunavut’s deputy chief coroner, Khen Sagadraca, told Nunatsiaq News on Sept. 25.

“We will be doing a mandatory inquest,” Sagadraca said. The death falls under the jurisdiction of the Nunavut coroner’s office for investigation, because the incident that led to the death occurred in Nunavut.

An inquest is mandatory under the Nunavut Coroners Act, because the death happened while the man was held in police custody.

Nunavut RCMP acknowledged in a statement that an in-custody death occurred in Kugluktuk on Sept. 19.

“An in-custody death requires the RCMP to engage the RCMP’s external investigations or review policy. The RCMP can confirm that this policy has been engaged and that the Calgary Police Service is currently investigating this incident,” the statement said.

“It would be inappropriate for the RCMP to comment further on this matter until the investigation is concluded.”