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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The woman found dead in a downtown alley the morning of Dec. 30 may have attempted to board a plane home to Lutsel K'e two days before her death but was turned away by airline staff because she was intoxicated, according to a family member who asked not to be named.

Police have since labelled the death a homicide but have issued few details and have identified no suspects.

Yvonne Desjarlais, 63, was well known on the streets of Yellowknife. For several years, she split her time between Lutsel K'e, a dry community where she had a home, and the capital city, where she would often live in shelters and drink on the streets.

"Once someone falls into the cycle of drinking here, if you want to go home it becomes very difficult because you have to go 24 hours without a drink," said Lydia Bardak, executive director of the John Howard Society, who had known Desjarlais for the past four or five years. "That's a very common thing that we see for sure, just the great challenges of trying to get back home once you've had your bit of fun."

This is apparently why Desjarlais was still in Yellowknife at the time of her death. Family members expected Desjarlais to return home on Dec. 28 but later learned she was not allowed on her scheduled flight because she was intoxicated, the family member seeking anonymity told Yellowknifer. While it is unconfirmed which airline Desjarlais planned to fly with, the source believed it was Air Tindi who turned her away.

"Because that issue is now being investigated by the RCMP, I'm not sure we can comment but I can tell you she did not check in on that flight," said Trevor Wever, vice-president of operations with Air Tindi.

Desjarlais' story has a tragic end, but is otherwise similar to countless others in the territory where people struggling with addictions often wind up in Yellowknife.

"A lot of it starts as a good time and a party but if you can't shut it off before you've gone too far then all the misery comes out and all the sadness and pain, and you want more drinks so you don't have to think about all that," said Bardak, who, unlike most Yellowknifers, works hard to get to know the city's street people in her capacity with the John Howard Society. "You know, they get lonely when they're here and they get into that not-very-healthy thinking and for a little while you think booze is going to take it away."

The disproportionate number of aboriginal people who struggle with substance abuse in the NWT and across Canada is often tied to the residential school system. However, in Bardak's opinion the roots run deeper.

"It goes back right to colonization," she said. "Even before residential school there was a lot of harm done to native people. Probably anybody reading your paper can relate to having a drunk uncle but when all of your uncles are drunk, that's a whole other kind of thing.

"When it's all of your relatives and all of your community, when it's that widespread and multi-generational, the substance abuse becomes normal; the violence becomes normal because it's so extensive. We really have to work hard to teach people again that it's not normal."

Bardak remembers Desjarlais as a fun-loving woman who always had a twinkle in her eye and a kind word to say. She called everyone "sweetie" and was an avid reader, especially of Western romance novels, Bardak recalled.

As previously reported, Desjarlais had a large extended family, both in Yellowknife and Lutsel K'e, and raised, at least in part, several children and one grandchild in Lutsel K'e.

"She had a tight-knit family for sure but, you know, they all have their struggles. She's had her struggles. She had a tough life but, you know, they certainly do their best to love and support one another," said Bardak.

A funeral for Desjarlais is scheduled to take place in Lutsel K'e today. Her body was expected to arrive in her home community on Monday and wakes were planned for Monday and Tuesday nights.

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