‘I miss her so much’: Kugluktuk mom plans walk to honour daughter, fight impaired driving

Christine Kuliktana uses this photo, the last one her daughter Angella Rose took of herself just days before an accident took her life, on posters and Facebook posts to encourage people to join her memorial walk in Kugluktuk on Saturday. (Photo courtesy of Christine Kuliktana)

Every year on July 21, Christine Kuliktana has a lot to celebrate.

It’s her wedding anniversary with her husband Daniel, and the birthday of her eldest son Paddy and of her best friend, Nadene McMenemy.

“So, a lot to be thankful for,” Kuliktana said.

In July 2013, as is her tradition, she was fussing for days over a turkey and ham dinner. But at 8 a.m. on the day of the triple celebration, she was awoken by a phone call that changed her life.

“Hi Christine, I think your daughter crashed with your vehicle,” one of Kuliktana’s friends said.

She immediately hung up, and in her neighbour’s truck rushed to the spot near Kugluktuk’s airport where her firstborn, Angella Rose Kuliktana, had crashed on the side of the gravel road with four of her friends inside.

Angella Rose was intoxicated when it happened.

All five were taken to the health centre. Hundreds of worried Kugluktuk residents crowded outside the small building.

Three hours later, an RCMP officer approached Kuliktana.

“I’m so sorry,” he said quietly.

Kuliktana started crying. Her niece later recalled she could “hear her auntie from across several roads.”

Angella Rose was the only one of the five in the vehicle that day who died from her injuries.

She was 22 years old.

Now, 12 years later, Kuliktana is organizing a walk to be held Saturday at 3 p.m. It’s the day Angella Rose would have turned 35.

The theme of the walk is mothers standing against drunk driving.

This week Kuliktana brought fresh flowers to the metal memorial the family placed near the road to the airport just after the crash, hoping people would slow down as they drove past it.

The walk comes as drunk-driving incidents are on the rise in the community.

RCMP report seven intoxicated drivers were stopped in August alone — the highest one-month total in seven years in the community of 1,382 residents, said McMenemy, who is a hamlet councillor.

Quite a few more drivers don’t get stopped, she added.

Kuliktana hopes to see at least 100 people join her for the walk from Colin Adjun Hall to the shore of Coronation Gulf in memory of her daughter.

Angella Rose was at the top of her class, a “beautiful angel” loved by everyone, and had never drank before driving until that night.

“The one time she goes behind the wheel intoxicated, this happens,” Kuliktana said.

What pains her most is that people later told her they had noticed Angella Rose appeared intoxicated before getting into the car. But they didn’t tell her or the RCMP.

Now, whenever she sees someone driving around town intoxicated, she reports it to police.

“It might save their life,” Kuliktana said.

Every July 21, Christine’s family still has a turkey and ham celebration of the wedding anniversary and the birthdays. But there’s always a moment when they stop to remember her firstborn. They always cry.

Not too much, though. That’s not what Angella Rose’s cheery soul would have wanted.

“If she was here, she would have hugged us, she would have lifted us up,” Kuliktana said.

“I miss her so much. Everybody does.”