Sudden death a cruel blow for Adlair family

Paul Laserich, seen here, was a pilot like his late father, aviation pioneer Willy Laserich. He died Nov. 19 in Yellowknife. (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE LASERICH FAMILY)

Paul Laserich, 52, of Cambridge Bay, the general manager of Adlair Aviation Ltd., died suddenly Nov. 19 in Yellowknife.

His death comes only 11 days before Cambridge Bay-based Adlair’s final air ambulance flight for the Government of Nunavut is scheduled to depart.

Laserich, who had been living in Yellowknife, died due to natural causes, family members said.

Since last August, Laserich had experienced rising stress due to the loss of his airline’s contract with the GN for medevac services in the Kitikmeot region.

He was consumed by frustration, anger and sadness over the GN’s decision to transfer its Kitikmeot medevac contract from Adlair to Aqsaqniq Airways Ltd., a private company in Taloyoak, his niece Jesce Laserich, Adlair’s base manager in Cambridge Bay, said Nov. 20.

Laserich’s death comes less than a month after Adlair lost its appeal against that decision, which will see the airline cease all its medevac flights for the GN on Dec. 1.

In August, the GN awarded the medevac contract, which Adlair had held for more than 20 years, to Aqsaqniq.

Following the award to Aqsaqniq, Adlair appealed the decision to the Nunavummi Nangminiqaqtunik Ikajuuti appeals board.

On Oct. 29, the board denied that appeal.

The NNI policy is the Government of Nunavut’s instrument for complying with Article 24 of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, which says governments must help Inuit-owned businesses get government contracts.

The board decided it “could not accept new evidence nor could it consider facts not before the Contracting Authority [the GN] at the time of the making of its decision to award the contract,” the appeals board decision reads.

Paul Laserich took that decision personally, Jesce Laserich said

The negative appeal decision was the “last straw” for him, his niece said.

“He couldn’t cope with it anymore,” she said, adding that if Laserich had been ill he didn’t let anyone know.

Laserich leaves his brother, René, of Cambridge Bay, sisters Joann and Bessie, and many other friends and relatives in the Kitikmeot region.

“Paul cared for so many people in so many ways; he was a generous, kind-hearted soul,” René Laserich said the day after his brother’s death.

“He internalized stress so others wouldn’t have to. In doing so, he failed to realize his health was paying the price. Paul touched so many lives, in so many ways, [and] his spirit will live on.”

This past September, the Laserich family also lost Margaret Rose, 74, who was married to the late aviation pioneer Willy Laserich — Paul’s father — for more than 50 years.

Her funeral was postponed twice, pending the end of Adlair’s contract with the GN.

No details are available yet about plans to hold a memorial services for Paul Laserich or his mother.