Nunavik family still seeks answers, police support in woman’s death

Alacie Nowyakallak died in Montreal in October 1994. Although her death was ruled accidental, the woman’s family continues to ask police to re-open their investigation. (HANDOUT PHOTO)

The family of an Inukjuak woman who died more than two decades ago continues to ask police to revisit the investigation into her death.

Alacie Nowyakallak was 34 when she went missing in Montreal on Oct. 3, 1994.

Less than two weeks later, on Oct. 14, her body was found in the St. Lawrence River just north of the city, near Repentigny.

Twenty-four years later, the Nowyakallak family knows little about how she died, family members told the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls when the commission hosted hearings in Montreal last month.

Alacie’s sister, Sarah, told the commission March 14 that she had only ever seen the coroner’s report into her sister’s death the previous day.

Nowyakallak had been submerged in water so long, she could only be identified by the necklace around her neck. The coroner’s report found no signs of violence on her body, but a high blood-alcohol level.

Montreal police eventually declared the death not suspicious, meaning it was an accident or suicide.

Sarah believes her sister was murdered.

“It’s like she was just put aside because she was Inuit, that I believe,” Nowyakallak said.

She said her family in Nunavik was never contacted about her sister’s death and had to rely on a friend in Montreal and a local police officer in Inukjuak to relay any information.

That means Alacie’s family and friends were never interviewed in relation to her death, her family has said, which could have provided police with important information about who she was with and what she was doing in the days before she died.

Nowyakallak and her family have also said it was unlike Alacie to be near the water.

“It gets tiring today how we Inuit and Indigenous people get different treatment by people in charge, like the police [and the] court system,” Nowyakallak said. “I would really appreciate it if they can re-open the case about my sister.”

Nowyakallak said there is little support for Inuit in Nunavik to deal with southern police forces—both language and geography create a barrier. She said she’s made calls to the police to inquire about the investigation, but has yet to hear back.

For its part, Montreal police said the file on Nowyakallak’s death has now been removed from its archives, which is standard procedure for non-suspicious deaths.

But the police service said there is no deadline for when an investigation can be re-opened, so long as there is new and compelling information provided to police.

The national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women does not have a mandate to investigate the cases of missing or murdered women, but the commission can bring to light new evidence, if and when it’s presented.