Stories we loved to tell: When news tips lead to charges, court dates

In this year-end series, Nunatsiaq News reporters look back on their most memorable stories from 2023

You never know where you’ll be when news breaks.

On the night of March 30, 2023, I had just arrived at a sports bar in Ottawa to watch some Major League Baseball opening day action with friends when I got an email notification.

It was from Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., announcing it was investigating potential fraud in enrolment under the Nunavut Agreement.

My jaw dropped. Suddenly, the leads I had been following from sources on background were being addressed publicly and on the record.

The story of twins Amira and Nadya Gill and their mother Karima Manji went on to make international news this year. The story has been covered by CBC’s The National, the New York Post and the BBC.

NTI removed the twins from its Inuit enrolment list in April after reviewing their 2016 applications.

In September, the three women were each charged with two counts of fraud. Nunavut RCMP alleged they used their Inuit enrolment to defraud the Kakivak Association and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association of financial support intended for beneficiaries between 2016 and 2022.

Iqaluit resident Noah Noah and his mother Kitty were drawn into the controversy due to the Gills’ claims to be related to his family, which Noah flatly denied.

Nunatsiaq News was the first paper to publish a news story about the NTI investigation. But before that, it was mainly Inuit women using their social media platforms in March of this year who first raised red flags about the Gill twins’ claims of Inuit heritage.

Their posts highlighted the Gills’ business, Kanata Trade Co., which sold products such as COVID-19 face masks and shirts with Indigenous artwork printed on them, and news appearances where they promoted their business.

The women’s posts also pointed to the Indigenous academic prizes the Gill twins received based on their NTI enrolment.

It’s a risk to come forward with information like that. In an email I received from Amira Gill, she referred to some of the social media users coming forward with accusations as “extremists.”

But some of the people taking to social media contacted me and provided me with a ton of important information. It was through them I was able to get in touch with the Noah family.

To those who helped and trusted me: Thank you.

Back to my point of not knowing when news might break: I was at the Nunatsiaq News booth at the Nunavut Trade Show in Iqaluit in September when the RCMP announced charges against the Gills and Manji. Their next court date is Jan. 8 in Iqaluit.

Fortunately, NTI’s spokesperson was also at the trade show and was able to set me up with a phone interview later that day with NTI president Aluki Kotierk.

My editor sent me home early from the trade show to write the story.

This story brought out a lot of emotions in people all over, not just in Nunavut but the Indigenous community as a whole.

Grants, scholarships and bursaries intended for Indigenous students are limited resources. Every institution or organization that offers them must take extra caution to ensure recipients really are who they say they are.

NTI announced in September it has increased its scrutiny within its own organization, requiring birth certificates as part of an updated enrolment process.

This story kept me and my editors busy throughout the year; but most important, it prompted many questions and conversations in Nunavut and across the country.