'It's a shock': RCMP lose one of their own after snowmobile accident in Kugluktuk
The 30-year-old officer had lived in Kugluktuk for a year and a half
The 30-year-old RCMP officer who died after a snowmobile accident near Kugluktuk is being remembered for his love of the land and his desire to serve people in Nunavut.
He died Friday while out with another officer on their day off and his snowmobile went over a 30-metre cliff in Kugluk Territorial Park.
According to Michael Jeffrey, the commanding officer for the RCMP in Nunavut, locals say the cliff would have been hard to see in spring conditions.
The weather in Kugluktuk was around –15 C with periods of blowing snow on Friday.
The officer lived in Kugluktuk almost a year and a half. He was from British Columbia.
Jeffrey said he volunteered to come to Nunavut, in order to work with Inuit and experience the land and culture. He died doing what he loved—enjoying the wilderness.
"The community has been extra helpful, very very kind," he said. "Yesterday they did a vigil at the detachment, they laid flowers, there was a lot of community members that came out to show their sorrow and their support for the member's family."
The officer's fiancee attended the vigil with her mother, Jeffrey said.
"It's a shock," Jeffrey said. "When you hear that it's somebody that you know, that you've worked with in the past, it's very sad. It's very tragic."
RCMP Cpl. Henry Coman said some of the officers sent to investigate the death are returning to Iqaluit Monday night.
He says the police will release more information as the results of the investigation become available.