Iqaluit man files second lawsuit against Nunavut RCMP

An Iqaluit man has filed a second lawsuit against the Nunavut RCMP, once again alleging mistreatment at the hands of Iqaluit RCMP members.

Nunavut legal aid lawyer Peter LeCain, who represents Bernard Naulalik, 28, of Iqaluit, filed the statement of claim at the Nunavut Court of Justice this past December.

In it, Naulalik alleges that on Dec. 4, 2016, police wrongfully arrested and unlawfully detained him.

He also alleges that the two RCMP members who arrested him, Const. Kevin Frechette-Mask and Const. Ryan Dawiskiba, committed an assault against him inside a police cell by using pepper spray on him and by hitting him on the head, face and body.

This, he alleges, chipped two of his teeth, caused him to lose another tooth, and left him with bruises all over his body.

He says he was not charged with any offence in relation to the initial arrest in that incident, but was charged with resisting arrest as a result of the ensuing fracas inside the jail cell.

The resisting arrest charge was later “discontinued,” but Naulalik says he does not know why, the lawsuit says.

In compensation, Naulalik seeks $40,000, compensation for loss of income while recovering from his injuries, plus punitive damages and court costs.

The allegations in that lawsuit have not been proven in court.

Naulalik’s first lawsuit, filed this past June, alleges that on June 6, 2016, Dawiskiba and Const. Jeffrey Dillon “wrongfully and intentionally committed assault and battery” by hitting Naulalik on the head and face inside a cell at the Iqaluit police station.

This happened after police directed the man to remove his shoes, jacket and clothing after they had arrested him and put him in a cell.

As a result, Naulalik received injuries to his right ear and right eye, for which he received stitches, and suffered depression following the incident, the lawsuit alleges.

In compensation, he seeks $30,000, plus lost income, costs and punitive damages.

As with his second lawsuit, the allegations in the first one have never been proven in court.

Following an incident that occurred on July 18, 2014, when he was held in a jail cell, Naulalik also made allegations of police misconduct.

But investigators with the Ottawa Police Service concluded that, in the 2014 case, police did not use excessive force.

As for the two 2016 incidents, the Calgary police service has been called in to investigate them.

In 2015, Madeleine Redfern, the chair of the Legal Services Board of Nunavut, said in a letter to Paul Okalik, then the Nunavut minister of justice, that the board, at that time, had been closely monitoring incidents of excessive use of force by police.

She said the LSB formally decided to provide legal aid for clients alleging excessive use of force by the police.

To that end, she said the legal aid board’s staff lawyers started asking that jail cell video footage be disclosed by the RCMP as soon as possible after allegations of excessive force.

She warned that legal aid lawyers are prepared to bring such footage to court to file as exhibits at bail hearings, so they can be seen by reporters.

“Utilizing the open court principle, we are aware of the media’s right to attend at bail hearings and the media’s ability to request access to the cell videos,” she said.

She even warned that the legal aid body was looking into the idea of pursuing private prosecutions “against officers who appear on video exercising excessive force.”

“It is hoped, especially as the Crown will now be privy to the cell footage at the bail hearing stage, that the Public Prosecution Service of Canada will negate the need for such private prosecutions and pursue public prosecutions in appropriate circumstances,” she said.

Since then, the RCMP has installed video cameras at all Nunavut detachments.

And last October, Justice Minister Jeannie Ehaloak said her department is open to looking at options for civilian oversight of the RCMP.

But she also said she has full confidence in investigations conducted by outside police forces like the Ottawa Police Service and the Calgary Police Service.