Christine Kay
Northern News Services

Resolute (Nov 11/02) - Respected Resolute Bay elder Minnie Nungaq died Nov. 4 after losing control of her snowmobile when the throttle froze up.

Nungaq, 52, was on her way to a council meeting at the hamlet office when the accident occurred.

"She tried to avoid a building, but the roadway was slippery and she collided into a parked vehicle just outside the South Camp Inn," said RCMP Const. Mike Turner.

He said no one witnessed the accident, but many people heard it.

The first person on the scene told police Nungaq was not breathing and did not have a heartbeat. Police determined the same thing when they arrived several minutes later.

Two nurses from the health centre performed emergency CPR on scene without success. Officials declared Nungaq dead at 7:35 p.m.

Along with serving on council, Nungaq was the community's social worker and a probation officer.

Ralph Alexander, senior administrative officer for Resolute Bay, said the hamlet received a call during the council meeting about what happened. He said it came as a big shock.

"It happened without any real warning. If somebody gets sick, fine.

"If somebody gets old, fine. But a stupid accident, that's not fine. I'm older than she was," said Alexander.

He said Nungaq had been a valuable resource for the community since he met her in the late 1970s.

This is the second unexpected death in Resolute over the last month. On Oct. 7, resident Michael Pudluk went to the nursing station with flu-like symptoms.

He died later that day from meningitis.

Alexander said the deaths are a real blow to the community.

"If we have a population of 200 people. In the span of four weeks we've lost one per cent of our population," he said.

Nungaq's funeral was expected to take place early this week.