Iqaluit man faces five charges following armed standoff

Nunavut RCMP Chief Supt. Michael Jeffrey describes, May 1 at the Iqaluit RCMP detachment, the outcome of a 42-hour standoff in the city’s Happy Valley neighbourhood. The incident led to the arrest of Iqaluit resident Jamie Mikijuk, 26, who appeared in court that day for five firearms-related charges. (PHOTO BY PETER VARGA)

An Iqaluit man barricaded by police for more than 40 hours in a home in the town’s Happy Valley area fired more than 10 shots before surrendering peacefully at 10 a.m., April 30, Nunavut RCMP said at an afternoon news conference May 1.

“Any time there’s a positive outcome like this, when we had [at least] 10 shots that were fired…and you’re able to resolve [it] after 41 hours, peacefully, I would call that a success for sure,” said Mike Jeffrey, Nunavut RCMP Chief Superintendent, from a boardroom in the Iqaluit detachment.

Jamie Mikijuk, 26, has been charged with five firearm-related offences in connection with the standoff that gripped Iqaluit over a span of three days, Jeffrey said.

Those charges are two counts of recklessly discharging a firearm, two counts of careless use of a firearm, and one count of possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose.

Mikijuk had been scheduled to appear at the Nunavut Court of Justice on May 1, Jeffrey said.

Around 3:30 p.m. on April 28, the RCMP received a call about a distraught and armed man at house 1671 in Iqaluit’s Happy Valley neighbourhood.

The RCMP immediately set up a security perimeter and deployed what Jeffrey called “specialized resources.”

Then, police began “critical communication and negotiation” with the man inside house 1671, restricting access to the area and designing an evacuation plan for local residents with the help of municipal officials, he added.

But as the standoff continued, “dozens” of RCMP from Quebec, Manitoba and Ottawa were summoned to Iqaluit to help with the situation, Jeffrey said.

The standoff lasted as long as it did because the barricaded man was not a risk to anyone else, said Jeffrey.

“Public safety is at the forefront, including the individual that we’re dealing with. So as long as we believe the individual is contained and cannot injure anyone else, we were continuing to negotiate with him.”

Jeffrey credited the patience and professionalism of police officers for the peaceful resolution, and thanked Iqaluit residents — especially those from Happy Valley — for their patience and outpouring of support.

But Jeffrey also acknowledged that some things could’ve been handled better.

“Are there things we could do differently? Of course. We’ll look at that in our debriefing process,” he said.

Some residents trapped in the secure area, for example, were unaware that RCMP could bring them supplies.

“That’s probably one of the items we’ll look for in our after-action report: how we can better inform the public during situations like this,” Jeffrey said.

But providing information while events unfolded had to be balanced with protecting the public — including the man inside house 1671, he added.

“We appreciate comments from the public on how we could do better.”

During the negotiation, Jeffrey said an Inuktitut translator was on hand but that the armed man communicated throughout the ordeal in English — including with his own father, who helped in the negotiations.

When asked how traditional Inuit knowledge was incorporated into the negotiating, Jeffrey said, “we always take into consideration the family, we get them involved in the process.”

And there are lessons to be learned from this unfortunate situation, Jeffrey said, especially in terms of educating people about securely storing firearms.

“We don’t want these types of situations to happen again because it puts everybody at risk in the communities… so anything we can do — and I appreciate the time to be able to talk about it — to try to encourage people to lock up their firearms is much appreciated,” Jeffrey said.

And, he added, these situations are also unfortunate because of how much money they cost.

“We do track the cost in these types of incidents and they’re pricey. And it’s money that should be spent on other things like prevention and education, for example,” Jeffrey said.

“But luckily it ended the way that it did.”