Police watchdog finishes investigation into Inukjuak death in 2025
Quebec’s Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions will decide if charges are warranted
Quebec’s police watchdog has finished its investigation into the July 17, 2025, death of a person in Inukjuak during a police investigation. (File photo)
Quebec’s police watchdog has completed its investigation into the police-involved shooting death of a man in Inukjuak last summer.
The Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes, which investigates cases where people are injured or killed during interactions with police, has submitted its report to the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions which will decide whether charges are warranted, the bureau announced in a news release Tuesday.
The fatal incident occurred July 17, 2025, in Inukjuak during an intervention by the Nunavik Police Service. The bureau’s release did not identify the person who died, however APTN News reported last July that the person was 34-year-old Jamie Kavik.
At the time, the Nunavik Police Service issued a release stating officers had responded to a report of forcible confinement in Inukjuak, which has a population of about 1,800 people.
When officers arrived, they made contact with a person who allegedly approached them with what was described as a “bladed weapon.”
Police officers fired at the person, who was injured by the police gunfire and was later pronounced dead at the community’s health centre.
Since 2016, 16 people have died in Nunavik in interactions with police, including four incidents in the past 14 months in which four people died, including Kavik.
Joshua Papigatuk died in November 2024 and his twin brother Garnet was badly injured after they were shot by police in Salluit.
In May 2025, Mark R. Annanack died in Kangiqsualujjuaq after a confrontation with police.
Then in December, 2025, a six-year-old girl identified by a family member as Alacie Iqaluk died and her father, Andrew Naluktuk, was injured in a police-involved shooting in Inukjuak.
The bureau is also investigating the police service’s role in an instance where a man in Kangiqsujuaq who had been in custody for three days was taken to hospital on Feb. 2 suffering a serious injury.
Mental health challenges in nunavik and treatment of them need a closer look. Cannot say there is stigma on it when all they do is lock people up in isolation until they claim they pose no further risk to themselves and the public. No treatment required to get out. What an easy world it would be if the cure was just a days worth of alone time.