MLA resigned from Nunavut cabinet same day assault charges were laid

Sanikiluaq RCMP have charged Daniel Qavvik, a 35-year-old man who appears to be the community’s MLA, with assault and assault by choking.

Police laid the charges Nov. 13, the same day the alleged incident is said to have occurred, RCMP spokesperson Cpl. George Henrie said.

The accused is not being held in custody but is allowed communication with the alleged victim only to “facilitate child care” in the presence of another sober person, court records show.

On Nov. 13, Qavvik — who was Nunavut’s environment minister — resigned from cabinet “due to personal reasons,” according to a Government of Nunavut news release issued Nov. 14.

Qavvik, a resident of Sanikiluaq, population 1,000, will continue to serve as MLA for Hudson Bay, according to Sima Sahar Zerehi, chief of strategic operations for the premier’s office.

Nunatsiaq News tried unsuccessfully to reach Qavvik, the MLA, on Monday to ask if he was facing assault charges. Someone who answered at his legislature office said Qavvik was not in Iqaluit and was unable to talk.

Qavvik’s legislative office phone number and email are no longer visible on the legislative assembly’s website.

At Qavvik’s constituency office in Sanikiluaq, no one answered the phone or returned the message that was left.

A reporter tried calling Qavvik on what is believed to be his cellphone but it went to voicemail. No one returned the message that was left. And what’s believed to be his home phone number — the only Qavvik listed in Sanikiluaq — was not in service.

His social media accounts appear to have been closed.

A few days after the resignation was announced, the name Daniel Qavvik appeared on the Nunavut Court of Justice docket, with a first appearance scheduled for Sanikiluaq on Jan. 20, 2025.

The docket does not list a lawyer who is representing Qavvik.

On Monday, Nunatsiaq News contacted Zerehi in the premier’s office, as well as the RCMP, to confirm that Qavvik, the MLA, was the person charged with the two counts of assault.

Both declined to confirm or deny the information. Zerehi referred to it as an “HR issue” and did not provide further comments.

The RCMP’s Henrie said it’s not common practice to identify the occupation of the accused because in most instances that information is irrelevant to the charge.

“The only information that we are able to provide is information that is sworn before the justice [of the peace],” Henrie said in an email to Nunatsiaq News.

Qavvik’s date of birth listed in the police information coincides with a 2021 birthday message a woman who said she was the MLA’s mother posted on Facebook.

The signature on a court document known an un undertaking — which sets out conditions for the accused to follow while the charges go through court — appears to be a near match with the signature on Qavvik’s expense forms he filed with Elections Nunavut for his 2021 election campaign to be MLA.