RCMP need training to challenge assumptions about Inuit intoxication: inquest
BAKER LAKE, Nunavut — The sister of a Nunavut man who died of a stroke after RCMP put him in a jail cell thinking he was drunk wants police to learn from their mistake.
“They mishandled him, just thought of him as a drunk and we didn’t know him to drink,” Mercy Kayuryuk said Wednesday about her brother Paul. “I hope they do better.”
A Nunavut coroner’s inquest report recommends training for Mounties and civilian jail guards to challenge assumptions about intoxication and alcohol use in Inuit communities.
The report into the October 2012 death of Paul Kayuryuk says police assumed he was drunk when he was found at a landfill in Baker Lake.