Quebec Inuit village searches for answers after 4 violent deaths
'The only thing that we can do is keep going,' mayor of Akulivik says after deadly weekend
A weekend drinking session that ended with a series of deadly stabbings and the shooting death of the assailant at the hands of police has renewed the resolve of a remote Inuit community to deal with substance abuse.
The mayor of Akulivik, Lucassie Alayco, said the 19-year-old accused of three slayings was drinking with a group of people in the early hours of Saturday morning before he is thought to have turned on members of his own family.
"This issue with alcohol has been going on for some time now in Nunavik," Alayco said through a translator at his office in Akulivik, a community about 1,700 kilometres north of Montreal, tucked on a peninsula that juts into Hudson Bay.
"It's been the cause of quite a few people getting killed or dying. We plan to try to straighten this out after what's happened.
"People are going to be more openly talking about this to get this behind us and see what we can do with this alcohol issue that's been plaguing Nunavik."
Illutak Anautak was shot and killed by local police after the stabbings. The deceased victims have been identified by the coroner as his uncle Lucassie Anautak, 36, Eli Qinuajuak, 32, and Putulik Anautak, 12.
Two others were flown to hospital with injuries that are no longer considered critical.
'Keep going'
The bodies are going to be flown out by Quebec's independent investigation bureau (BEI) for autopsies in the coming days. The town doesn't expect to be able to hold funerals for another two to three weeks, when the bodies are returned, Alayco said.
Anautak had been haunted by his own troubled past, including the death of his mother, a victim of conjugal violence, and brother, who took his own life, friends have told CBC News.
Speaking on Monday, Alayco said Anautak was involved in an argument before the stabbings, but he isn't sure what prompted it. If he had been able to get a gun instead of a knife, perhaps more people would be dead, he said.
Instead, Anautak was shot by local officers after he broke into three homes, stabbing five people in all, according to an account provided by the BEI.
"The only thing that we can do is keep going," Alayco said, adding that friends and family are flying into the community of about 600 people to provide support.
"We'll be able to get back on our feet again. We're helping each other. That's the main thing. We're getting help from other communities as well."
'I don't have explanations'
The tragic events were still raw at a Sunday-night church service in the village. Adults in the crowd sang hymns, tears streaming down their faces, as children ran around playing, seemingly oblivious to the pain that surrounded them.
The investigation into the shooting death, led by the independent investigations bureau, is expected to take several months.
Quebec provincial police, who are handling the probe into the stabbing deaths, offered no additional details on Monday.
When asked about what happened in Akulivik, the local police chief said it was hard to explain.
"Explanations … I don't have explanations," Michel Martin said.
But Martin, who was sworn in as chief two years ago, said there are "numerous" substance-abuse problems in Akulivik.
He added there aren't many resources available to people dealing with addiction or mental-health issues.
Substance abuse, along with poor job prospects and a high suicide rate, have long plagued Nunavik, the autonomous region of northern Quebec.
The unemployment rate in the region is more than 14 per cent, well above the provincial average, according to 2011 numbers from Statistics Canada.
The suicide rate in Nunavik is the highest in Quebec and represents up to 24 per cent of deaths, roughly 10 times greater than elsewhere in the province, according to the report.
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With files from Kamila Hinkson