Cambridge Bay Stabbing mars Nunavut holiday season

SEAN McKIBBON

IQALUIT — A stabbing on New Year’s Day in Cambridge Bay left one man with wounds to his head and shoulder.

“The holidays were certainly hectic,” said Sgt. “Sput” McCarthy of the Cambridge bay RCMP.

The incident was one of two in Cambridge Bay and contrasts starkly with other Nunavut communities where RCMP officers report mostly quiet times over the holidays.

The victim of the stabbing was taken to Cambridge Bay’s local nursing station, where he received a number of stitches, McCarthy said. The young man is now recovering in the community.

His attacker, a young person under the age of 18, was charged with aggravated assault and taken into custody before being flown to Iqaluit for a show cause hearing.

The Young Offenders Act prohibits publication of the name of the youth who was charged.

McCarthy would not reveal the name of the victim. He said alcohol had been involved.

Another knife-wielding youth also made trouble on Christmas day for the RCMP in Cambridge Bay. Police were called to a residence after a young male assaulted his girlfriend and began smashing things in their apartment.

“The young woman was able to get away after another person momentarily subdued him,” said McCarthy. But the youth broke free and assaulted his girlfriend’s rescuer with a knife, forcing him to flee, he said.

The first officer to respond to the call was chased away from the residence by the youth, who ran out the front door after her with the knife, McCarthy said. The officer retreated and waited for backup.

McCarthy said that when he showed up at the scene the youth surrendered.

The youth, who also cannot be named because of the Young Offenders Act, was charged with two counts of mischief, two counts of assault, one count of possession of a weapon dangerous to the public peace, and breach of probation, McCarthy said.

Most other communities did not have any serious incidents. The Northern store in Sanikiluaq was broken into and some things were stolen on Christmas night during a bli ard, said Cpl. Ian Spencer. Aside from the break-in, which is still being investigated, things were pretty quiet, he said.

“Things went very smoothly. There were no Y2K-related incidents, it was nice,” said Spencer.

“It was wonderful,” said Cpl. Lorne Adamitz of the Resolute Bay RCMP. “It restored my faith in the Christmas spirit, with people getting together for community events and things.”

Most of the RCMP officers interviewed attributed the quiet Christmas atmosphere to tight controls on alcohol imposed by local liquor committees.

But in Pond Inlet, Cpl. Don Perrett said there was only one very minor incident that did not result in any charges, despite 17 large shipments of alcohol approved by the local alcohol committee.

“We were expecting to be called out a lot,” said Perret.

“We’re glad to report it was amazingly quiet.”

While almost every community detachment in Nunavut was able to respond to Nunatsiaq News’s inquiries, Sgt. Mike O’Malley of the Iqaluit RCMP detachment could not be reached for comment.