‘I want to find forgiveness’: Savanna Pikuyak’s death devastated friends, family

Savanna Pikuyak moved from Sanirajak to Ottawa to become a nurse and have a positive impact in her community; she had a “quirky, wonderful” sense of humour, and her family adored her.

And her life was cut short by her murder on Sept. 11, 2022, when she was just 22 years old.

Victim impact statements read in an Ottawa courtroom Tuesday — where Pikuyak’s killer Nikolas Ibey was found guilty of first-degree murder after a three-week trial and handed a life sentence — painted a picture of a young woman once full of hope, and of friends and family struggling now with the inexplicable tragedy of her death.

“Savanna was quiet, funny and very creative,” her mother, Sheba Pikuyak, said. “We cannot work because of what happened to our panik,” or daughter, in English.

“Our lives have been colonized, but we Inuit will not revenge and avenge back,” she said. “We were taught to forgive. In my heart, I want to find forgiveness for the man that murdered my panik.”

Savanna brought out the happiness in everyone — “She was irreplaceable,” her sister, Geneva Pikuyak, said in court.

“Not only did we lose a member of Sanirajak, we lost a well-loved sister and mother, daughter, friend and future influencer, also known as a leader within the community.

“Ever since her passing, I feel void. I’m on autopilot,” she said.

Kristy Williams, a nurse and counsellor in Sanirajak who became Savanna Pikuyak’s friend, recalled “she had a quirky, wonderful sense of humour, and as much as we talked about adversity and we cried, we laughed and we giggled at the funny side of things too.

“Her goal was always to give back to society, to become someone who would make and live the change that was so badly needed in this community. She amazed me.”

The last time they spoke, they discussed Pikuyak’s move to Ottawa.

“She was embarking on this adventure, and she felt she had everything to live for,” Williams said.

“The next time I was with Savanna, she was in the coffin four rows ahead of me in a little wooden church.”

Just four days after she arrived in Ottawa, Savanna Pikuyak was killed by Ibey, whose Nepean-neighbourhood house she rented a room in to attend school.

Throughout the three-week trial, Ibey spoke only one word in court. At the end, when the judge asked if he had anything he wanted to say, he replied: “No.”