Young Nunavut resident dies in Ontario fire

LEEVEDE ATAGOYUK

Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT – Ian Todd, 29, the son of NWT Finance Minister John Todd, died suddenly on Nov. 30 after a fire swept through a house where he was staying in Lancaster, Ontario.

Lancaster is just east of Cornwall, Ontario, near the Ontario-Quebec border.

Todd died of smoke inhalation, says Hugh McClements, an officer with the Ontario Provincial Police detachment in Lancaster. Four other occupants of the house escaped.

McClements says smoke detectors alarmed the other four occupants, but unfortunately, Ian Todd wasn’t able to escape. Authorities had to use dental records to identify his body. The fire was caused, McClements said, when hot grease used to make french fries ignited in the kitchen of the house at about 6:30 on the morning of Nov. 30. The four people who escaped are: Robie Pupiatic of Chisasibi, Quebec; Gilles Belouis from Paris, France; Ranald Carrabin from Toulon, France; and Joshua Boles of Fergus, Ontario. Paul Williams, the Anglican pastor in Rankin Inlet, said a funeral service for Ian Todd was to have been held at the Maani Ulujuk gym in Rankin on Wednesday evening. Also on Wednesday, a memorial service was to have been held in Iqaluit. Fred Alt, First Air’s base manager for Iqaluit, said Ian Todd was in Cornwall, Ontario to take pilot training courses. Alt says Todd had almost finished his course when the tragedy occurred. “Everytime for the last couple of years, he’s been going down and working for us. He took leaves of absence to take flying lessons and advanced that way,” Alt said. “This was a very, very sad incident. He was a very keen young man and had a dream. He loved flying, he wanted to be a pilot. He came this close,” he said.