GN enlists NWT to help investigate inmate’s death

DENISE RIDEOUT

IQALUIT — Correctional officials from the Northwest Territories are heading to Arviat to investigate the death of an inmate at an outpost correctional camp near the community.

They’ll be looking into the death of 25-year-old Bruce Aasivaaryuk, who was an inmate at the camp.

On Jan. 29 Aasivaaryuk’s body was found on the shore of Maguse Lake. He had become lost in a bli ard the previous day and it’s believed he succumbed to the weather conditions at the time.

In order to ensure the investigation into the incident is unbiased, the Nunavut government has enlisted the help of the GNWT’s justice department.

The RCMP and the chief coroner of Nunavut are also investigating the matter.

RCMP officials believe Aasivaaryuk had gone out on a ski-doo — under the supervision of an elder — to check trap lines near the camp. That’s when he got caught in the bli ard.

According to an RCMP press release the man’s body was found near the snowmobile he had been riding.

Aasivaaryuk is originally from Baker Lake. According to court records he was convicted last summer of uttering threats and two counts of assault with a weapon causing bodily harm.

He was sentenced to spend nine months in detention.

In an interview last week, Premier Paul Okalik expressed his condolences, saying Aasivaaryuk’s death was a tragedy.

“We are sympathetic to the family,” Okalik said. “We feel that we have to look at this more closely.”

The premier deflected suggestions that the death was an indication that inmates aren’t well supervised at the camp. He pointed out that Aasivaaryuk was accompanied by an elder at the time and that the sudden bli ard — not a lack of supervision — was likely a contributing factor in his death.

“They [correctional camp programs] have been very beneficial for the offenders. We’re not looking to remove this program,” said Okalik, who is also the minister of justice.

The other half-dozen inmates from the correctional camp have been transferred to the Baffin Correctional Centre in Iqaluit. The premier said the camp will be closed temporarily until the investigation has wrapped up.

In several Nunavut communities correctional camps are used as an alternatives to prison and to alleviate overcrowding at BCC.

The camps are supposed to offer an on-the-land program and counselling to inmates.