INUVIK - After an attempted abduction of a seven-year-old boy in Inuvik on Monday, Feb. 21, Sir Alexander Mackenzie School (SAMS) is ramping up efforts to educate kids on "stranger danger."

Sir Alexander Mackenzie School is holding a "Stranger Danger" awareness assembly with RCMP after the attempted abduction of a seven-year-old student Feb. 21. - Kira Curtis/ NNSL photo

The school was to hold an assembly yesterday about the differences between a stranger and a non-stranger and what students should do when they are approached by an adult they don't know.

On Feb. 21, a student was walking back to Sir Alexander Mackenzie School on Bompas Street near Loucheux Road at around 12:45 p.m. when a vehicle pulled up.

According to the boy, the man didn't get out of his vehicle but reached out and grabbed the boy by the collar of his jacket.

"The boy managed to free himself and ran directly back home and reported it to his mother and brother," said RCMP Cpl. Kent Pike.

The boy's mother called the RCMP.

"We immediately spoke with the boy and tried to obtain as much information as possible," Pike said.

The boy told the police he was not able to get a good look at the driver, but said the suspect was a man and he appeared to be alone.

"It was a very scary incident for the boy," Pike said. "He wasn't able to describe the male in any way other than it was a male, but he did manage to provide us a somewhat vague description of the vehicle."

Roy Cole, Superintendent of the Beaufort Delta Education Council, said the school was notified right away and a letter was sent home with every student informing parents of the incident and to be aware of where their children are at all times.

"At SAMS here, if there's a kid that's not in school, then the parents are supposed to call, and if the parent doesn't call, then the school makes contact with the parent, or with the home," Cole said.

Cole said when people move or change phone numbers, they don't always update their info on the school's list and this limits important communication.

"In light of what happened the other day, these types of things are very important," he said.

Cole said that as soon as they heard about the incident, all school staff went on alert.

"The elementary school is always on alert because we're always very concerned about kids coming to school, kids going from school and kids in school and people coming into the building and so on, but I can't say we're doing much more that we typically would have anyway," Cole said.

The vehicle description the boy provided was of a possibly dark green or black SUV.

Pike said that area of Bompas Street is busy around lunch time, not only with students but with people returning back to Mackenzie Road after lunch. He is hoping someone may have seen something that would give the police more information.

"Obviously an incident of this nature would be quite traumatic to a seven year old, to any individual," Pike said, adding the RCMP is confident that, though vague, the description of the vehicle is accurate.

"He associates this with his own family vehicle, so we're quite confident that it is a vehicle of that type."

Pike said that an incident like this in Inuvik is rare, and the fact the boy didn't recognize the man is unusual and very serious.

"Even though we're the hub for the more northern communities here, we're considered a smaller community where most people know everybody," Pike said.

Unlike most child abduction cases where strangers lure kids to them, the man didn't say anything to the boy, just tried to grab him.

"And that's what kind of makes it that much more difficult and why we're reaching out to the public," Pike said. "Not only to inform the public of this situation but for any assistance for anything that people might have seen or have heard around town."

Anyone with information is asked to call the Inuvik RCMP, and if they want to remain anonymous, they can call Crime Stoppers.

"It is a very serious incident, something that we don't want to see happen again," Pike said.

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