Kuujjuaraapik woman dies in bar parking lot

KUUJJUARAAPIK — Booze has claimed yet another life in Kuujjuaraapik.

On Saturday, February 21, a woman who had been drinking at the community’s Social Club died of exposure outside this establishment.

That night temperatures in Kuujjuaraapik dropped to -40.

Constable Ronald McInnis from the Sûreté du Québec said that Nancy Menarick, 39, was found frozen to death in the parking lot of the Social Club.

McInnis said that no criminal charges would be laid, but added that the circumstances around Menarick’s death seemed to demonstrate a certain lack of concern on the part of other Social Club patrons, who saw her passed out in the parking lot but offered no help.

Some apparently cited a fear of a jealousy on the part of their partners if they took responsibility for bringing an intoxicated woman home.

“According to the investigation, she had been drunk and was very lightly dressed,” said McInnis.

Following an autopsy that was performed in Montreal, McInnis said investigators will have a better idea of the level of alcohol in Menarick’s blood prior to her death.

The news of Menarick’s death, on the coldest night of the year, came as a shock to the community. Menarick was married and a mother of two children.

“It’s very scary. Sometimes we go on in our own way,” said social worker Lydia Esperon. “It’s telling us to be more aware.”

Menarick’s death is the second alcohol-related fatality in Kuujjuaraapik in less than a year. On April 29, Sidney Bullfrog, a Cree man aged 55, died after becoming involved in a dispute with another man.

Joseph Napartuk, 29, was later convicted of manslaughter in Bullfrog’s death and sentenced to six years in jail.