Kugluktuk woman faces four charges in relation to “unruly” flight

Canadian North’s Dash-8 services from Yellowknife to Kugluktuk does not serve alcohol to passengers. (FILE PHOTO)

A woman from the western Nunavut community of Kugluktuk will appear in court next month to answer to charges linked to allegations of unruly behaviour aboard a Canadian North flight last March.

Helen Evaglok faces four charges in relation to a disturbance that occurred aboard a March 13 flight from Yellowknife to Kugluktuk.

Evaglok is charged with one count of mischief causing over $5,000 in damage and causing a disturbance by being intoxicated.

Evaglok is also charged under the Federal Aeronautics Act with unruly and dangerous behaviour, as well as consuming liquor that was not served by the airline.

Canadian North has alleged that Evaglok and another woman brought alcohol onto Flight 446, which departed from Yellowknife March 13.

The Dash-8 service does not include alcohol service for passengers, and passengers departing Yellowknife for Nunavut are not screened by CATSA, the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority.

During the flight, Evaglok and another women allegedly snuck their alcohol into the aircraft’s bathroom to consume it and became intoxicated.

The airline said a flight attendant was accosted during that flight.

Canadian North alleges that a woman was restrained by the flight’s first officer until the plane landed in Kugluktuk, where she was arrested by local RCMP.

The plane returned to Yellowknife to pick up another flight attendant for the flight, which was scheduled to fly on to Cambridge Bay.

That left the 20-odd passengers stranded at the Kugluktuk airport for more than four hours, Canadian North said.

A second passenger aboard the same flight who had also been drinking was questioned by police, but not charged.