One person dies after police-involved shooting in Inukjuak

One person has died after a shooting involving Nunavik Police Service officers in Inukjuak on Dec. 20, according to a Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes update released Tuesday.

Quebec’s police watchdog, which is investigating the police response to a 911 call, didn’t specify who the person was or when the victim died.

A man and his young daughter were previously described as being in critical but stable condition in a Montreal hospital following the early-morning incident in the village of about 1,800 people on Nunavik’s Hudson Bay coast.

Nunavik Police Service officers were responding to a 911 call at 3:30 a.m. Dec. 20 reporting that a person at a home posed a danger to others, the bureau said in a news release published on its website Dec. 21.

When police arrived, a man armed with a rifle confronted them, a Kativik Regional Government news release on Dec. 23 said. The man, described as a “gunman,” and child, who was inside the home, were injured in an “exchange of gunfire,” the KRG release added.

The two were treated at the scene and then medevaced to a hospital in Montreal.

Both the bureau, which investigates cases where people die or are injured during contact with police, and the Nunavik Police Service referred Nunatsiaq News to the Quebec police — Sûreté du Québec — Monday when asked for an update on the incident.

The Sûreté du Québec directed Nunatsiaq News back to the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes.

Inukjuak Mayor Bobby Epoo declined to comment on the incident when reached Monday afternoon.

Sixteen people have died in Nunavik in interactions with police since 2016. Four of these incidents have occurred in the past 14 months.

Joshua Papigatuk died in November 2024 and his twin brother Garnet was badly injured after they were shot by police.

In May, Mark R. Annanack died in Kangiqsualujjuaq after a confrontation with police. And in July, James Kavik in Inukjuak died after an incident involving police.

There has been no indication whether police will be charged in any of these incidents. The Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes has handed its investigation reports into the Papigatuk and Annanack incidents to Quebec’s director of criminal and penal prosecutions. Prosecutors will then decide whether charges are warranted.

The Kavik incident, as well as the Dec. 20 Inukjuak incident, remain under investigation by the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes.