Inukjuak man, daughter recovering from injuries sustained during contact with police
Quebec’s police watchdog investigating Nunavik Police Service response to early morning 911 call
Quebec’s police watchdog, the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes, is investigating an exchange of gunfire between Nunavik Police Service officers Saturday and a person. Two people were injured during the incident, the investigations bureau says. (File photo)
The shooting of a man in his 30s and his young daughter in Inukjuak on Saturday has added to the “fear and mistrust” people in Nunavik feel about the region’s police force, the man’s cousin says. It was the latest violent incident involving Nunavik Police Service officers.
The man and his daughter, who is around five years old, were injured when the officers went to his house, said Lucy Nowra, who says her cousin was the man involved in the incident early Saturday morning.
“People in Inukjuak are concerned about the repeated use of force by police, especially lethal force,” she wrote in an email to Nunatsiaq News on Monday.
Both the man and his daughter were medevaced to Montreal for treatment of their injuries, Nowra said. Family members heard the man was “aware and awake.”
She said the girl’s mother told her the child had undergone surgery and a doctor said she will recover and was to be woken up on Monday.
Quebec’s police watchdog, the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes, said Sunday that one person was listed in critical condition and another in stable condition after they were injured Saturday when Nunavik Police Service officers responded to a call.
The officers got a 911 call at 3:30 a.m. Saturday, reporting that a person at a home posed a danger to others, the bureau said in a news release published on its website Sunday.
Preliminary information the investigations bureau received suggested the officers arrived at 3:36 a.m. to find a person with a firearm outside the home.
“An exchange in gunfire ensued between the individual and the police officers,” the bureau’s news release stated, citing preliminary information.
That person was injured and arrested, said the bureau — the provincial body responsible for investigating cases where people die or are injured during contact with police.
A second person was found seriously injured inside the home.
Nowra said she disputes that account. She said her cousin was not involved in a shootout, and that a witness who helped provide first aid said no weapons were found near him.
Police officers gave first aid to both people until emergency medical personnel arrived. Both were then taken to a health centre, the investigations bureau said.
The bureau’s news release did not provide information about the identity, age or sex of either of the injured people. It did not say how the two were injured.
The investigations bureau does not disclose the identity of victims in order to protect their privacy, said spokesperson Jérémie Comtois.
Nunatsiaq News is not naming the people because a child is involved.
Nowra said the incident underlines why Nunavimmiut want to know how shootings by police happen.
“People want to understand what leads to these incidents and whether all other options were truly exhausted,” she said. “Our community wants safety, but we also want policing that respects Inuit lives, culture, and the realities of Nunavik.”
Nowra, who described herself as a longtime critic of police using force in Nunavik, said “a lot of community members” felt they were safer when the Sûreté du Québec or the RCMP policed the region.
“There was more trust and a sense that situations were handled differently. People want policing that focuses on de-escalation, understanding the community, and keeping everyone safe, and not responses that leave families and the whole community traumatized,” she said.
It’s the second time in 2025 the independent investigations bureau has been called to Inukjuak, which has a population of about 1,800.
In July, James Kavik died during contact with police. His shooting is still under investigation by Quebec’s police watchdog.
Saturday’s incident is the fourth time since November 2024 that Quebec’s police watchdog has been called to examine shootings by Nunavik Police Service officers.
In May, Mark R. Annanack died in Kangiqsualujjuaq after a confrontation with police.
In November 2024 in Salluit, during contact with police Joshua Papigatuk died and his twin brother Garnet was shot and badly injured.
Reports about shootings in Salluit and Kangiqsualujjuaq have been completed and passed to the Quebec prosecutors office to determine whether charges will be laid against the police officers in those cases.
Let them use tasers instead of guns. or are they only slowly but surely depopulating Inuit.
Would you pull out your Taser while being shot at?
We need iniut policemen
Do you think a policeman of any race would ignore their use of force training when in the same situation?
Take race out of this. You have a call about a man with a gun posing a danger. You pull up and start getting shot at. What do you do?
There are bad officers just as there are bad doctors, accountants, cashiers but like in all professions most are good.
There is also the cost to an officer’s lifelong mental health when the do have to shoot someone. This fallacy that police are hunting people is a terrible narrative.
First off yes there are cases where use of force is questionable and that sentiment is valid but to tie this into that is irresponsible. It is still early in the investigation but a good rule of thumb is if you shoot at police they shoot back.
There is no going for a less than lethal option when someone is shooting at you. The anger should be directed at a father who decided to have a gun fight with a small child around who unfortunately got shot in the crossfire.
Of course this is heavily moderate to fit the narrative of police brutality.
There’s nothing to indicate that the police injured the person (child) inside the home? Who injured her? There’s nothing to indicate the police injured or shot the person who was reported by the community call.
That says it all.
Disarm the police
Revisit the sidearms carry. Bringing sidearms into heated incidents, not good. A shooting in Tasiujaq was prevented only because a young man’s father stepped in between the officer and his son. That took courage and saved a life.