Tologanak-Labrie lost money on bootleg vodka

Julian Tologanak-Labrie’s behaviour deteriorated during the week before his death on April 15, 2009, Tony Demerah of Kugluktuk told the coroner’s inquest looking into the 20-year-old’s leap from a plane en route to Cambridge Bay. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

CAMBRIDGE BAY — Alcohol and bootlegging appear to have played a role in the mental distress suffered by Julian Tologanak-Labrie, who leaped out of an Adlair Air plane en route to Cambridge Bay on April 15, 2009.

Tologanak-Labrie displayed increasingly erratic behaviour during the week leading up to his leap from the King Air 200, according to April 13 testimony from Tony Demerah at the inquest into the circumstances around the 20-year-old’s death.

Demerah, a resident of Kugluktuk, played on the same hockey team as Tologanak-Labrie. The two ended up sharing a hotel room at the Yellowknife Inn from April 9 to April 12, 2009, while attending a hockey tournament in Yellowknife.

Demerah told the inquest how Tologanak-Labrie was concerned about his break-up with a girlfriend in Kugluktuk.

Tologanak-Labrie was also anxious about the fate of some bottles of vodka he had sent to Kugluktuk to be bootlegged, Demerah said.

The 60-ounce bottles he had sent to the community had ended up being drunk before they were sold, and the money Tologanak-Labrie was expecting to spend in Yellowknife wasn’t going to come through.

Tologonak-Labrie also told Demerah he had bought a couple more bottles of vodka to bring back to Kugluktuk.

But Tologanak-Labrie became alarmed when he learned that Demerah was in charge of issuing the permits needed to bring alcohol into the community.

Since 2007, all residents of Kugluktuk have been required to clear alcohol purchases through an alcohol education committee. Then, Demerah issues them a permit.

Demerah told Tologanak-Labrie that a permit could be arranged later in Kugluktuk for his unapproved purchases.

Tologanak-Labrie told him he was still worried the RCMP might go to the airport, to check his baggage because one of the RCMP members suspected he was bringing illegal alcohol into Kugluktuk, where he had lived for several months.

Scheduled to Kugluktuk on Sunday, April 12, 2009, Tologanak-Labrie abruptly changed his mind at the last moment after the flight was delayed.

Tologanak-Labrie pulled his bags off the flight, telling Demerah he might go to Gjoa Haven or Taloyoak, after spending more time in Yellowknife.

Demerah found Tologanak-Labrie “definitely worried” and described his behaviour at the airport as “a bit strange” — although earlier in the week Tologanak-Labrie had seemed happy, he said.

Demerah said Tologanak-Labrie never mentioned he wanted to return to Cambridge Bay, but said he liked living in Kugluktuk.