Dental therapist molested kids in at least two Nunavut communities, lawyer alleges

In the 1980s, young children from the elementary school in Igloolik, seen here, went to see a dental therapist, the late Daniel Nahogaloak, now alleged to have sexually abused at least 12 of them. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

A dental therapist who died in 2016 may have sexually abused young children in several Nunavut communities in the 1980s, leaving his victims so traumatized that afterwards they were too terrified to seek dental care, alleges Alan Regel, an Edmonton-based lawyer and member of the Nunavut bar.

Regel said the late Daniel Nahogaloak was trained by the federal government as a dental therapist and sent back north as part of a program to improve dental hygiene in the North.

Nahogaloak, who died in December 2016 at age 63, is listed as residing in Cambridge Bay in 1986, according to court documents obtained by Nunatsiaq News.

When Nahogaloak arrived in Igloolik in January 1984 many locals were excited to have an Inuk dental therapist, a position they did not distinguish from that of a dentist, Regel said.

Right now, Regel represents 12 Igloolik individuals who allege, in a civil case against the federal government, that Nahogaloak abused them.

As a dental therapist, Nahogaloak was a health care worker trained to offer simple forms of dental treatment and preventive services such as cleaning teeth.

In Igloolik, Nahogaloak set up appointments and worked with the school so that teachers could send elementary school students to the nursing station for their appointments. 

The children were not accompanied by an adult and Nahogaloak conducted the appointments without an assistant, Regel said.

During these visits, it is alleged that Nahogaloak sexually assaulted the children “in various manners,” he said.

“The assaults resulted in the usual psychological trauma experienced by sexual assault victims, but also a fear of dental workers.”

Each of the 12 now involved in the case—all from Igloolik so far—thought they had good teeth before Nahogaloak’s treatments but have experienced a deterioration of their teeth afterward, Regel said.

After one of the children complained to the school, Nahogaloak admitted sexually touching nearly all the female patients who came to him for dental therapy during a span of several months. 

He was charged and pleaded guilty to one charge under what was then Section 246.1 of the Criminal Code for sexually assaulting a patient in 1986.

He received a three-month prison sentence and a period of probation with an order to “seek counselling assistance and treatment where you reside” and to “obtain whatever professional help you may require to assist you with alcohol and behavioural problems.”

The civil action, filed against the federal government, was launched in 2009. 

All plaintiffs will be examined for discovery by the federal government, Regel said.

Examinations for discovery are used by lawyers in civil cases to find out about the other side’s case. These are roughly equivalent to preliminary inquiries in criminal cases.

When Nahogaloak died in 2016, efforts to question him in the civil action were still being pursued, Regel said.

But this fall, the case is expected to move ahead.

Nahogaloak also worked in Taloyoak and Cambridge Bay, under the same program, before transferring to Igloolik, Regel said. 

Regel said that no one from Taloyoak has made a complaint about Nahogaloak, but two people from Cambridge Bay, which Regel visited this past July, recently expressed an interest in advancing a claim alleging similar abuse. 

“They did not come forward earlier as they thought they were the only person Nahogaloak did this to,” Regel said.

Others have reported abuse by another dental therapist during another time period. 

As a result, Regel said, legal action is being contemplated for more abuses alleged to have been committed by Nahogaloak and the other dental worker.

Regel has also received information about this type of abuse taking place in other Nunavut communities as well. 

“I am not at liberty to say what communities or who the perpetrators identified are. It is shocking, however, to see how widespread this particular type of abuse is, in terms of the profession and the communities,” said Regel, who has reached out on social media to get in touch with potential victims.