Nunavik women’s deaths prompt placement of Inuktitut road signs
Mary-Jane Tulugak, Nellie Niviaxie died after being struck by vehicles near Ullivik in Dorval, Que. last year
The City of Dorval has added Inuktitut road signs in the area near Ullivik in response to the deaths of two Nunavik women in the area last year. (Photo courtesy of the City of Dorval)
Following the deaths of two Nunavik women on Montreal-area highways last year, Inuktitut-language roadside signs have been installed in hopes that Inuit medical travellers will be safer near their boarding home.
In August 2022, two women from Nunavik were struck and killed by vehicles in separate incidents on busy highways in Dorval, Que., near the Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.
Mary-Jane Tulugak from Puvirnituq, and Nellie Niviaxie from Umiujaq, were both medical travellers staying at Ullivik, a medical boarding home for patients from Nunavik.
The new Inuktitut signs, which are also in French and English, have been placed in the area around Ullivik as well as some of the major transit and commercial hubs in the area, according to a City of Dorval news release earlier this week.
“I made a commitment with our director general to find a way to provide a safe and secure environment for those staying at the Ullivik residence to move back and forth between Ullivik, the Dorval EXO-STM terminal, and the commercial hub on Dorval Avenue,” Dorval Mayor Marc Doret said in the release.
“We did this at the local level to ensure the safety of all members of our community and to prevent any more fatal accidents like the ones that took the lives of Mary-Jane and Nellie.”
The women’s deaths occurred less than a day apart but were not connected, Quebec provincial police said.
Police determined the deaths were accidental and no drivers were charged. A coroner’s investigation was launched days later.
Last year, a Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services spokesperson said there had been at least six road-related incidents in the area around Ullivik since the centre opened in 2016.
Dorval also plans to hand out reflective backpacks as another tool to ensure pedestrian safety at night.
“For us, it was paramount that as an administration and based on the wishes of the municipal council, we take the necessary actions to make sure that such tragedies do not happen again,” said Marc Rouleau, the city’s director general.
“I am proud of the various City of Dorval teams that worked closely alongside our community partners to put in place measures that could potentially save some lives.”
The boarding homes in the south need to have an information session when patients arrive. Every day! In smaller communities crossing without looking and j-walking are normalized. Drivers watch pedestrians and slow down when we see someone walking just incase they decide to cross without looking. This does not happen in South cities.
It certainly doesn’t happen on urban highways.
Ullivik is in an industrial area on the side of a busy highway. Warehouses, asphalt, fast moving vehicles and noise surround the place. I hope I don’t get sick and have to stay there.
It s a lot better place , then downtown YMCA , that i stayed at twice escorting , a family member . Downtown , you see a lot of homeless inuks looking for money from their fellow Nunavimiuks.
People from other provinces and territories should be warned that driving in Montreal is crazy and pedestrians’ lives don’t weigh much. There are numerous incidents each year involving pedestrians (last year there was a young girl, a refugee from Ukraine that had been there for only a short time, who was killed at an intersection near her school) and this is a serious problem that the city is trying to address but has limited success. It’s unlikely drivers will stop for a pedestrian on the roadway unless there is a red light. That’s the reason why right turn on red isn’t authorized on the island of Montreal. Please use extreme caution when crossing the streets and it’s preferable to have eye contact with drivers when you do so.