Police issues dominate opening day at meeting of Nunavik leaders

Makivvik president Pita Aatami says he plans to meet soon with new Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette to discuss Nunavik’s regional issues.

Aatami made the announcement at the start of this week’s Nunavik all-organizations meeting, which opened Tuesday in Montreal.

The date that he will meet with Fréchette, who won the leadership of the governing Coalition Avenir Québec, or CAQ, on April 12, was not announced. Fréchette replaced former premier and former CAQ leader François Legault.

The annual three-day all-organizations meeting, which is led by Makivvik at the Courtyard Marriott Montreal Airport, brings together about 50 government and organizational leaders from across Nunavik to get updates and discuss regional issues.

Police-related issues dominated discussion on the opening day Tuesday.

Nunavik Police Service Chief Jean-François (Jeff) Bernier told the audience his main concerns are safety in the region, community distrust of police, and the severity of crime.

Since starting as chief in November, he said, he has seen a higher degree of violence compared to the south, as well as serious crimes and crimes committed in front of children.

“Confrontation of police — non-compliance or non-collaboration — is the highest when I compare it to police services in the south,” Bernier said.

He said he plans to establish a formal communication channel with the director general’s office at Kativik Regional Government to keep it better informed on police activities. He also wants to improve relations between police and the community.

“People are not inclined to give police information, because they have no confidence in the ability of police to make things better,” Bernier said.

“We cannot ignore the fact that we have a public safety crisis on our hands.”

An incident in December in Inukjuak, in which a six-year-old girl died and an adult male was injured, marked the fourth time Nunavik Police Service officers have shot at civilians since November 2024, including four deaths.

The all-organizations meeting is scheduled to wrap up Thursday.