RCMP professionalism ends standoff as well as can be hoped for
Iqaluit police operation shows it takes training, patience and resources to de-escalate high-stakes situations
An RCMP tactical team suits up on Saturday afternoon in Iqaluit. (Photo by Daron Letts)
It took 16 hours, but the Mounties got their man Saturday afternoon and no one was hurt — or worse, killed — during a dramatic standoff that unfolded in Iqaluit.
It ended about as well as a standoff with police could have — with a suspect in the back of a police cruiser instead of in a coroner’s van.
It’s a testament to the skill, patience and professionalism of the RCMP officers who responded that it ended relatively peacefully and not tragically.
It began at 12:50 a.m. when police responded to a call that shots had been fired in a Tasilik Street home. Police surrounded an apartment building and tried to get someone inside to surrender to them.
About nine hours later, the RCMP mobilized an emergency response team that flew in from Ottawa.
Because it unfolded in the city throughout the day, Iqalummiut — including three Nunatsiaq News reporters —witnessed the dramatic incident unfold.
At one point, a Nunatsiaq News reporter counted more than 20 police officers in tactical gear on Tasilik Street.
Imagine the cost of flying highly trained officers and their specialized gear 2,000 kilometres.
We don’t know much about the 38-year-old man who was charged or what led him to engage in a standoff with police. Police charged him with 15 criminal offences. Those details will come out in court, as they should.
Reporters Jeff Pelletier, Daron Letts and Arty Sarkisian were there at 1 a.m., observing what was taking place and writing three stories throughout the day as circumstances changed.
News coverage of police operations is important because the public deserves to know how police handle these situations to protect them, themselves and the suspects they’re trying to apprehend. It’s part of the media’s watchdog role.
Our reporters worked as a team to report the story in a way that made readers feel like they were there, while respecting the community and giving the police room to do their jobs.
Journalists must too often cover stories about police incidents where either a member of the public or a police officer is injured. Nunavik, for example, has had too many occasions in the past year where someone has died during an interaction with police.
Police officers everywhere put their lives on the line to keep communities safe.
It wasn’t lost on our reporters that the tense standoff was taking place the day before the annual church service to remember police and peace officers who have died in the line of duty.
Police are often criticized in the news when their interactions with the public go tragically wrong.
When something goes well — or as well can be hoped for — it’s fair to point that out, too.
Of course, the best way to guarantee that people don’t get injured during contact with police is to avoid having contact with police in dangerous situations.
The root causes of whatever it was that caused a man to hole himself up in his apartment and refuse to give himself up need to be addressed. That’s not something that can be done on a Saturday afternoon as a man evades police and 20 heavily armed officers wait outside on the street.
But for now, Iqalummiut should take comfort that a police operation went as well as it could have, and everyone should strive to make sure all such interactions end peacefully.
“The root causes of whatever it was that caused a man to hole himself up in his apartment and refuse to give himself up need to be addressed.”
We are in the middle of an election for the next GN government.
But we have heard absolutely nothing from any of the candidates about this matter, or anything else.
What is wrong with this Territory?
You’ve heard plenty about the root causes of this incident. Mental Health, food insecurity, drug use, and poverty are all factors.
A leader doesn’t respond to every incident – they should be speaking to the broader root issues that Corey discusses in this editorial.
The police . Especially and inparticular canadas mounties rcmp should never be trusted . Do not talk to the rcmp !
It wasn’t lost on some of us, either, that Nunatsiaq News and Corey are quick to jump on every misstep or controversy in the North — especially when it involves community members, organizations, or local leadership — but rarely show the same energy for positive stories.
It’s interesting to see how quickly they pivot to praising the RCMP for “professionalism” after being called out during the standoff for poking around Facebook and pulling details from residents in real time, even as the situation was still unfolding.
No one is saying the resolution didn’t matter — it did. But when reporters become part of the story through questionable behaviour, and then turn around to publish pieces celebrating the same institution it raises fair questions about consistency and integrity.
If we’re going to talk about fairness in coverage, that means highlighting when local people and communities do good too — not just when it fits a certain narrative or timing to push out the clickbait.
I agree, it’s nice to see Nunatsiaq actually give a little praise. Nunatsiaq is largely click bait and negativity is better for clicks.
Why give Nunavik as an example, as they are bad, and Nunavummiut are good at de-escalating. Our systems are not the same. Policing in Nunavik is significantly different, as officers can use force/weapons against anyone, whether they are armed or not. Don’t make Nunavik look bad, same thing for Nunavut.
If there are root causes to incidents such as this that need to be addressed, there is one that will be ignored in our upcoming election. Since 1999, Nunavut has been the scene of a pretty big gender equity gap, and it has not been against females.
It is so obvious that it goes unremarked that it is Inuit men and boys having standoffs with police, or killing themselves at disproportionate rates, not any other identifiable group.
The discrimination against Inuit boys begins early in life – our education system has been designed not to meet their needs. School attendance, already low, for boys slumps off early by more than 10% compared to girls, and never recovers. By the time of high school graduation, 20-40% less boys are graduating compared to girls.
Discrimination continues after high school. Nunavut Arctic College core funded programs are almost all for programs in traditionally female fields; NAC will only ask for extra money sometimes to run programs in traditional male fields.
This lack of education translates into lack of opportunity for young men, which translates into much lower employment rates for males compared to females in government and other Nunavut workplaces. This is particularly bad for men, who are bombarded by Inuit cultural views that frame them as the provider for the family, something they have been ill equipped to do.
These violent incidents are no surprise. It is a direct result of sexual discrimination. Decades ago, it was the women and girls who were discriminated against. Huge efforts were rightly made to correct this wrong, and these efforts have been largely successful. We should now be saying “Mission Accomplished” and moving on.
Should it be necessary today to encourage and support girls (and by extension, not boys) to go into, for example, STEM fields, when girls have already got the message? It is young women that fill our colleges and university science classes across Canada, not young men. Or give preference for females for jobs when they are already well over-represented?
If us Inuit are still second class citizens in our own territory, it is clear that if you are an Inuk man, you are actually a third class citizen. If this is changed it is likely less Inuk men will be so unhappy with how their lives are turning out.