Community mourns 4-year-old Ivujivik boy as family seeks answers

Ivujivik residents gathered Thursday afternoon to mourn four-year-old Jusi Pudlayat as his family searches for answers about the medical care he received before his death.

Pudlayat’s funeral was scheduled for 1 p.m., his grandmother, Annie Mangiuk, said in the community’s Facebook group.

Mangiuk had raised concerns about her grandson’s condition in posts to the community Facebook group before his death.

In a July 31 post, she said the boy had been suffering persistent stomach pain, had barely eaten for more than a week and that the family had repeatedly sought medical help.

She said nurses had told the family to give him Advil and Tylenol and that he was not properly assessed despite their concerns.

Nunatsiaq News has attempted through several avenues to contact family members but has not received a response.

The Nunavik Police Service confirmed in an email to Nunatsiaq News that officers responded Aug. 1 to a medical assistance call involving an unconscious four-year-old at a residence in Ivujivik.

Emergency medical services personnel were already transporting the child to the Inuulitsivik Health Centre by the time police responded, deputy Chief Shaun Longstreet said. 

According to the Inuulitsivik Health Centre website, Ivujivik has one head nurse and one clinical nurse stationed there. 

In a later post on Aug.9, Mangiuk said Jusi had died and alleged medical staff in Ivujivik and Puvirnituq had not believed the extent of his pain.

Those concerns reached a much wider audience after throat singer Shina Novalinga shared a post about Pudlayat’s death, along with a GoFundMe fundraiser for the family.

Her social media post prompted widespread condolences and renewed discussion about access to health care in Indigenous communities. 

Federal Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty, the Liberal MP for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, extended condolences Wednesday to Pudlayat’s family through a statement on Facebook.

“It was heartbreaking to hear of the passing of a 4-year-old boy in Ivujivik, in my riding,” Gull-Masty said.

“We expect the Province of Quebec and the medical staff involved to address this matter with the utmost seriousness and to ensure that the system can provide answers to the family and community while also working to prevent future tragedies from occurring.”

The Inuulitsivik Health Centre and Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services issued a joint statement Wednesday evening, announcing several reviews have been launched into the circumstances surrounding the child’s death.

The health centre’s clinical directorates have begun a multidisciplinary review, while the coroner has initiated an investigation, the statement said.

The coroner’s investigation, which takes place when a death has occurred under violent, unclear or negligent circumstances, takes about six to 12 months, said Quebec Coroner’s Office spokesperson Jake Lamotta Granato in an email.

The health and social services board’s service quality and complaints commissioner is also involved, and an independent medical examiner from outside the Inuulitsivik Health Centre will review the case. 

Québec solidaire, the province’s left-leaning political party, is calling for Quebec’s children’s rights and welfare commissioner to examine Jusi’s death. 

“If this is, once again, a case of systemic racism in our health-care system, it must be clearly identified and action taken accordingly,” party spokesperson Sol Zanetti said in a French statement Thursday.