Retired Nunavut RCMP member faces charges linked to historic assault

A former RCMP member who served in Cape Dorset during the 1960s has been charged with assaults related to a series of incidents alleged to have happened at the time. (FILE PHOTO)

A former Nunavut RCMP member faces rape and assault charges stemming from incidents alleged to have occurred during the late 1960s.

The Nunavut RCMP said Aug. 7 that its major crime unit has laid three charges against a former member, Lauren McKiel, dating to a period in his policing career when he served in Cape Dorset.

McKiel faces one charge of sexual assault, one charge of indecent assault and another charge for having sex with a minor, RCMP said in a release.

The charges stem from a series of incidents involving the same complainant.

But police would not provide any more information about the alleged incidents, noting the matter is now before the courts.

McKiel, 78, is scheduled to appear in Iqaluit court Sept. 14.

A Northern News Service Online 1999 feature on McKiel’s career traced the officer’s upbringing in New Brunswick to his decision to join the RCMP in 1956.

McKiel then married and applied for northern service with the RCMP, relocating to the Northwest Territories and Yukon in the late 1950s.

By 1965, McKiel was transferred to Iqaluit, then Frobisher Bay, with his wife and three young children. The RCMP transferred him to Cape Dorset in 1967, where he was promoted to corporal, NNSL reported.

“Part of his job involved travelling by snowmobile to check on eight Inuit families living along the coast,” the NNSL article said. “He would have to travel as much as 389 miles to reach one family.

“McKiel said he would often accompany the families on caribou hunts during these trips.”