Police dog team to search for missing Arviat woman

Close to a year after the disappearance of 20-year-old Kadin Savikataaq in Arviat, Nunavut RCMP are bringing a police dog and handler to the hamlet to aid in the search for her remains.

The dog search is not related to any new leads police have received “but a continuation of this open investigation,” Supt. Kent Pike of the Nunavut RCMP said Monday.

A police dog and its handler were scheduled to arrive in the Kivalliq Region community of 2,800 on Monday evening, Pike said. They will search for the remains of Savikataaq, who disappeared Aug. 20, 2024 but whose body has not been found.

The police dog team will be aided by members of her family.

The search should take three or four days, and the team is scheduled to leave the hamlet on Friday.

Kadin Savikataaq is Arviat Mayor Joe Jr. Savikataaq’s daughter and the granddaughter of former premier Joe Savikataaq Sr.

The family is hoping for a breakthrough in the search, being mindful of the small window of time before winter comes, said Kadin’s biological mother, Pauline Copland. Kadin was adopted by Joe Savikataaq Jr. and his wife Lillian.

“For my family it has just been a waiting game and thinking … winter is going to be here in no time. [We] have been looking every single day with no luck,” Copland said in a recent interview.

In the early hours of Aug. 20, 2024, a truck owned by Copland was found on the exposed seabed in a location only accessible during low tide and known locally as “The Point,” she said.

Copland said she had loaned the truck to her daughter the previous evening but grew concerned after Kadin had not returned the truck at around 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 20. Kadin initially responded to Copland’s concerned text messages, but stopped responding soon after, Copland recalled.

Growing increasingly concerned, Copland drove her ATV into the night in search of Kadin. Later, at 2:30 a.m., Copland saw other ATVs rushing toward The Point. Her truck was discovered there, but no one was in the vehicle.

Copland said that sometimes people drive their ATVs to The Point, but generally it is considered too dangerous to drive trucks or cars there. She believes the truck got stuck.

A search and rescue team looked for Kadin for a week, after which the official search was called off, Copland said.

On Aug. 27, 2024, the family held a memorial for Kadin.

“We won’t have the funeral or burial until we find her body,” Copland said.

The family and community members continued searching for Kadin last summer and fall, until snow fell and ice started forming, Copland said.

The family does not accept the theory that she drowned, Copland said. They have not been satisfied with that explanation and have continued to search for answers in her disappearance.

“This has been very hard mentally and emotionally [for the family],” Copland said.