Incident involving young boy, drugs and firearms shakes Salluit

A young boy has been medevaced out of Salluit, seen here, to Puvirnituq, after a Monday afternoon incident. (FILE PHOTO)

A young boy has been medevaced out of Salluit to the Inuulitsivik health centre in Puvirnituq, after a Monday afternoon incident that left one resident of Salluit concerned about the health of youth in the community of about 1,500 people on Nunavik’s Hudson Strait.

The resident told Nunatsiaq News that an 11-year-old had a “baggie” of drugs taken from him in school.

Angered, the boy broke into a gun cabinet, took a rifle to a “drug shack,” and fired three shots.

The rifle then jammed on him, the resident said.

Police arrested the boy, who was flown out by medevac to Puvirnituq for evaluation, the resident said.

“Considering the age of the person involved, the KRPF will unfortunately be unable to comment on this incident,” said a spokesperson from the Kativik Regional Police Force in Kuujjuaq.

As for its part, the Kativik Ilisarniliriniq school board said “such an incident did not occur at one of our schools in Salluit.”

Spokesperson Jade Bernier said “the possession, use, sale, or consumption of any controlled substance, drug, alcoholic beverage or an intoxicant of any kind is forbidden at all times at facilities of the Kativik Ilisarniliriniq. This includes all offices, schools, education centres, garages, etc.”

“Situations where students would be involved in possession, use, sale, or consumption of such substances are handled on a case by case basis…. For all students under 18 years old, the school would also liaise with parents.”

According to the community source, drug use in Salluit is “epidemic,” with children as young as eight years old using drugs with their parents.

At a recent Kativik Regional Government council meeting, the KRPF reported on an increase in the amount of drugs seized by its investigators in Nunavik: seizures of marijuana were up from 12,578 grams in 2016 to 19,297 grams during the first six months of 2018, while hash was up from 179 grams to 1,308 grams and narcotic pills from 0 to 145.

The KRPF did not report where seizures were made.