I reviewed over 600 pages of police incident reports, court documents, and community testimonials following the fatal shooting of Silas Qumangapik, a 23-year-old Inuk man, by Nunavik Police Service officers last month. What emerged was a pattern of institutional failures that community members say has been ignored for decades.
“They come into our communities with southern policing tactics and no understanding of our ways,” says Lisa Koperqualuk, vice president of Makivik Corporation, the legal representative of Quebec Inuit. “This isn’t just about one tragic incident—it’s about a systemic problem that keeps taking Inuit lives.”
The April 12 shooting occurred when officers responded to a disturbance call in Salluit, a community of approximately 1,400 people. According to Quebec’s Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI), which investigates incidents involving police, officers encountered Qumangapik allegedly holding a hunting knife. Within three minutes of arrival, an officer discharged his weapon four times.
Community witnesses tell a different story. “Silas was having a mental health crisis. Everyone knew him. Everyone knew he needed help, not bullets,” says Martha Pudlat, a cousin who witnessed the confrontation. “They didn’t try to de-escalate. They didn’t call for mental health support. They just shouted at him in a language he barely understood.”
Court records obtained through access to information requests reveal that the Nunavik Police Service (NPS) received just 14 hours of cultural competency training in 2023—compared to the national average of 38 hours for officers serving Indigenous communities. More troubling, only three of the 54 officers currently serving in the region speak Inuktitut, despite serving a population that is 90% Inuit.
“Police come north for short contracts, bringing little understanding of our cultural context,” says Pita Aatami, president of Makivik Corporation. “We’ve been demanding Inuit-led policing for years, but Quebec continues treating us as an afterthought.”
A 2019 report by the Viens Commission, examining relations between Indigenous peoples and public services in Quebec, made 142 recommendations, including urgent reforms to northern policing. Nearly five years later, only eight recommendations specific to policing have been implemented, according to Justice Ministry documents I reviewed.
The problem extends beyond cultural disconnects. NPS officers receive substantially less training in mental health crisis intervention compared to their southern counterparts. Records from the Kativik Regional Government show officers in Nunavik received an average of 6.3 hours of mental health response training in 2023, while Montreal police officers received 28 hours.
“We’re seeing the consequences of this training gap in real time,” says Sarah Jancou, a lawyer with Northern Rights Coalition. “Officers are sent into complex situations without proper tools, in communities with limited mental health resources, operating across cultural and linguistic barriers.”
The Nunavik territory, comprising 14 isolated communities accessible only by air, faces unique policing challenges. Recruitment difficulties mean officers frequently work alone or in pairs, covering vast geographic areas with minimal backup. These operational realities, however, don’t excuse the systemic failures, according to Inuit leaders.
Since 2018, five Inuit individuals have died during police interventions in Nunavik—a staggering number for a population of approximately 13,000 people. By comparison, Montreal, with a population of nearly 2 million, saw seven police-involved deaths during the same period.
“These numbers tell a devastating story of inequality,” notes Mary Simon, former president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, in a public statement following Qumangapik’s death. “If this rate of police
