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GAMETI/RAE LAKES
The GNWT, Tlicho Government and RCMP need to make sure smaller, more isolated communities have the means to fight back against domestic violence, according to the chief coroner.

Cathy Menard's recommendations follow the killing of a Gameti woman at the hands of her common-law spouse in 2009.

"Domestic violence deaths almost never occur without warning," stated Menard in her recommendations, released April 12.

"Isolated communities such as Gameti have limited resources and services available in comparison with other larger communities in the North. There are no RCMP members who live in the community full time. Victims of violence have no place to go, such as a shelter, to escape or receive immediate assistance or support."

Menard recommended the GNWT, Tlicho government, RCMP and other related organizations create a community plan and policy for helping smaller communities, such as Gameti. In addition, she urged them to develop a public education campaign to promote awareness of domestic and family violence.

The chief coroner's recommendations come three years after Alice Black, a 31-year-old mother of seven, was killed on Feb. 27, 2009 by her common-law spouse Terry James Vital, who was 35 at the time of the killing.

In the hours leading to her death, Black called her brother to say that Vital was drinking and "behaving badly," according to Menard's report. She locked the door to their residence but he smashed the front window.

At approximately 11 p.m. the couple went out drinking with another couple on the ice road and were later dropped off at a second couple's home. At approximately 12:30 a.m. Black said she wanted to leave and was heard arguing with Vital outside. One friend reported he heard Black cry out in pain, which he assumed was from Vital kicking her.

Another witness saw Black running around a vehicle trying to escape Vital. He caught her and, as they walked away from the house, Vital grabbed Black by her hair, bent her at her waist and kneed her in the face.

It wasn't until two of Black's nephews witnessed Vital hitting her in the head with firewood at 1 a.m. that anyone called for help. The young boys told their father, who then went to Black's residence to check on the couple. He found them sleeping on the floor, according to Menard's report.

"Ms. Black was moaning in her sleep and moving around. The boys' father tried to wake her up by calling her name, but she just moaned. The boys' father stated that there was blood on Ms. Black's face and hands."

He phoned the health centre and spoke to a nurse, and then tried calling four different houses for assistance, as there are no RCMP members stationed in Gameti. He was unable to reach anybody, so he covered Black in a jacket and left the house.

They checked back at around 3:30 a.m. and found them both sleeping in different positions. At 7:40 a.m. Vital called a nurse and told her he had just returned to town on his snowmobile and found Black unresponsive.

When a warrant was put out for Vital's arrest, some local residents helped him hide from police.

In November 2010 Vital pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to seven years in prison. He was given credit for time already served, shortening his sentence to five-and-a-half years.

Community plans and a public education campaign are much needed in the NWT, according to Lyda Fuller, executive director of the YWCA in Yellowknife.

"I think an awareness campaign is exactly what we need in this situation," she said in response to Menard's recommendations. "She's entirely right that these kinds of deaths are preventable and that we get a lot of advance warning about it. Alice lived with violence in her life for a long time and she tried lots of different ways to improve that, so we need to do more to help."

Prior to her death, Vital was convicted of assaulting Black in incidents dating back to 1999.

"It would be scary, actually, to think that there's no real safe place you could go, and so what it means is the community itself has to have a plan in advance so that they know how to help keep women safe," Fuller said. "In the case of Alice Black, a family member tried to intervene, but it was one person. You need more than one person."

Menard's recommendations come just weeks after funding for the NWT Family Violence Action Plan was discontinued by the GNWT. Fuller said two key parts of that plan - a pilot program to help rehabilitate abusive men and funding for regions without shelters - can't be ignored.

"This is a long-term process, so we need to keep at it. It's not like you can fund something for four years and be done with it," she said.

There are shelters in Yellowknife, Hay River, Inuvik, Fort Smith and Tuktoyaktuk, Fuller said. Communities such as Gameti, Wrigley, Trout Lake, Jean Marie River, Colville Lake and Tsiigehtchic all go without shelters and full-time RCMP.

Menard said her recommendations came more than three years after Black's death because the NWT Coroner Service had to wait for all appeals to be filed, and for the RCMP to provide all the details of their investigation.

"Unfortunately, it does take a while," she said.

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