Nunavik police report calls for Inuit-led training
Changes to Quebec hiring laws, cultural training, improved Inuit officer recruitment among recommendations
An audit report of the Nunavik Police Service recommends 35 reforms aimed at rebuilding trust, increasing Inuit representation and improving community policing initiatives. (File photo by Jeff Pelletier)
A major report on policing in Nunavik recommends creating an Inuit-led police training program, changes to Quebec’s hiring laws and greater Inuit control over policing in the region.
In July 2025, the Kativik Regional Government launched an audit of the Nunavik Police Service after three fatal police shootings occurred within eight months. Since then, six-year-old Alacie Iqaluk died in a police-involved shooting in Inukjuak.
On Tuesday, KRG released the report, Toward a Distinctly Inuit Public Safety System in Nunavik. Neither representatives from KRG nor the Nunavik Police Service responded to interview requests.
Conducted by the law firm Bélanger Sauvé and consultant Réjean Hardy Inc., the report says the police force faces major challenges, including high staff turnover, language and cultural barriers, officer burnout and growing mistrust from communities.
Makivvik and the KRG should define what policing and public safety should look like in Nunavik and create an Inuit-led police training facility, the report says.
The report also calls for Quebec’s Police Act to be amended to give Nunavik greater control over hiring standards.
For example, to become a police officer in Quebec, a person cannot have criminal conviction. The report proposes exemptions for certain minor offences for Inuit applicants, to make it easier to recruit local officers in Nunavik.
The number of Inuit officers has declined over the years because of burnout, limited access to training and hiring requirements that fail to reflect realities in Nunavik, according to the report.
It says many Inuit officers face additional emotional strain because they are sometimes required to intervene in incidents that involve relatives or close friends.
The report also recommends the force reinstate the special constable program, which helped recruit Inuit in the early 2000s.
As of February, there were three Inuit officers in the Nunavik Police Service.
The report says growing drug- and weapon-related incidents have made police interventions more dangerous and frequent.
In February, Nunavik police Chief Jean‑François Bernier told regional councillors that assaults were increasing in the region, with 3,123 reported in 2025 compared to 1,759 in 2023.
Other recommendations include mandatory cultural and crisis-intervention training for non-Inuit officers, expanded mental health support for police personnel and stronger community policing initiatives.
The report makes 35 recommendations on governance reform, recruitment, training, wellness and rebuilding trust.
Wow, nobody ever thought about that…
The bar is already extremely low, and that has led over the years to non-Inuit being hired to train to be a police officer in exchange for a commitment to the force for a number of years, completely bypassing the college diploma it would normally require and sending them straight to Nicolet. Lowering it even further would erode the trust even more, because now you have the real possibility of someone with a criminal offense patrolling your town with a gun who probably won’t even be Inuit either.
No inuk want to be a cop , you will be shunned by your freinds and family .
Come on bro .. let me manipulate you first.. put those hand cuffs away and I’ll give you half of the profits and we’ll party after your shift, sounds good ?
Inuit led training? Stop with the fantastical ideas.
There are literally no inuit authorities to deliver such training. Policing has a body of knowledge that has evolved over a few hundred years, much of which has been the result of hard learned lessons and research.
Cultural awareness? Yes. Cultural adaptations, of course. But to infer that there is some as yet unlocked body of policing knowledge within inuit culture is pure fantasy. The reality remains that nunavik has a violence problem. That’s the root of police involved shootings in Nunavik. This would just be the KI-ization of policing. We don’t need another KI for nunavik.
Classic case of pointing the finger at police while the rest of the fingers are pointing at the problem. The communities themselves. Exacerbated by the emergence of hard drugs, drugs in general and alcohol. The crime rate isn’t high because of the hiring practices or leadership of the police service. Another factor is the soft court system. Reducing over representation of inuit offenders incarcerated. Meaning they get released early and often. On conditions that are RARELY respected. They return to their communities and continue where they left off. In regards to why inuit officers have left the service. The report is partially correct but is missing a major factor. Criminal convictions themselves. I have a strong feeling the conclusion of the report was created BEFORE the actual investigation. I would love to know how much this report cost. Shameful.
Gimme 💲100Million Dollars 🤔🤑🚨
The journalist managed to not mention the alcool problems in this article, waw! How hard is it to understand that bootlegger need to be punished harsher ( especially the one from downsouth that import). And there should be 0 tolerance for alcool. No alcool no violence, inuits are amazing when sober. No need for an expensive firm to do a report about that, what a joke
For example, to become a police officer in Quebec, a person cannot have criminal conviction. The report proposes exemptions for certain minor offences for Inuit applicants, to make it easier to recruit local officers in Nunavik
are you serious right now? lets keep lowing the bar instead of addressing the problem…
how about dealing with the root cause. If you point a gun at police you get shot. NN has to stop using this 6 yrs old in their reporting. That 6 yr old got shot because of the actions of her father.