Corrections boss faces assault charge

When Ron McCormick, Nunavut’s director of corrections, hopped on a plane last weekend, he had a serious “containment” issue to manage in the community of Kugluktuk — the arrest of Helen Larocque, director of the highly-touted Illuvut correctional healing centre.

On Sunday, July 3, at about 9:30 a.m., members of the Kugluktuk RCMP detachment responded to a complaint concerning a woman who was badly beaten inside her home.

As a result of the incident, police arrested Larocque, 48, and Larocque’s sister, 37-year-old Rita Pigalak, and charged each of them with aggravated assault and unlawfully being in a dwelling place. The two will appear before the Nunavut Court of Justice on Aug. 15.

Police say booze contributed to the incident.

The victim, who is a sister-in-law of Larocque and Pigalak, was treated in the Kugluktuk Health Centre and later medevaced to Stanton Hospital in Yellowknife.

On the previous Saturday night, July 2, the victim had been at a house party held by Tommy Pigalak, father of the two accused, where it’s alleged that someone broke a window.

The early morning attack on her was apparently committed by someone trying to exact retribution for the broken window at the elder Pigalak’s home.

One of McCormick’s first moves in Kugluktuk was to announce that Larocque is suspended with pay from her position at the healing centre for at least 30 days.

“The situation is in the hands of the court,” McCormick said in an interview from Kugluktuk.

“When that’s concluded, we’ll see what happened. The main thing is that we take this very seriously. The centre is continuing to operate. Staff are shaken by it, but they’re moving on.”

McCormick had praise for the Illuvut Centre’s staff and for the acting director of the centre, Pauline Plamondon. He called Larocque’s arrest an “unfortunate situation.”

“It wasn’t something we expected. We try our hardest to find people who are suitable, and I’m not saying she wasn’t suitable,” he said.

McCormick said Larocque went through the GN’s official hiring process, which included a reference check.

“When we’re hiring someone, we look for the qualities to run a centre.”

The Illuvut Centre in Kugluktuk officially opened less than six months ago, on April 2, with a showy ceremony featuring drum dancing, a feast, and a visit by Justice Minister Paul Okalik, whose department is responsible for correctional facilities.

“Community elders will play a significant role in teaching and reconnecting the centre’s inmates with Inuit traditions and societal values,” Okalik said at its opening.

The Illuvut Centre, a former transportation department barracks, is designed to house up to 16 low-risk adult offenders for short-term stays.

Some Kugluktuk residents wanted to see a new facility for young offenders instead, because the community’s youth who now end up in custody are sent to Iqaluit.

The Illuvut Centre did, however, create 12 new jobs for Kugluktuk.

One resident questioned the GN’s choice of Larocque as head of the centre.

“You get people from down south making the appointments and they don’t have a clue who the people are. It doesn’t last,” said the resident, who, like many in the community, spoke to Nunatsiaq News only under the promise of confidentiality.

“If you’re running a jail for the Department of Corrections, you’re supposed to be setting an example at that level. People in those positions should set an example: if they aren’t going to, they should pay the price for their mistakes.”

The Illuvut Centre isn’t popular with everyone in Kugluktuk, either. Its critics say they don’t like seeing clients walking around the community, even when accompanied by escorts.

Some clients have taken advantage of the relative freedom offered by the centre: one offender out on a pass managed to find a local girlfriend and a supply of booze.

After police apprehended him, he was sent to Iqaluit to serve out the rest of his term at the Baffin Correctional Centre.

There’s also resentment in town because, unlike young offenders or adults on probation, the centre’s clients are paid minimum wage for any community work they perform.

They also have access to a boat and other equipment to hunt and fish when “ordinary people” who are on social assistance can’t afford to go out on the land.

Local RCMP are said to be unhappy because they are often called in to assist staff with violent incidents at the centre — calls that add to their already heavy work load in Kugluktuk.

And when a client becomes uncontrollably violent, the RCMP also end up with the responsibility and expense of guarding him in a cell, because the healing centre has no secure isolation room.