Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

NNSL (Apr 05/99) - Gaping holes in the social safety net led directly to a March 1998 triple murder/suicide in Kugluktuk, according to the coroner's report released Tuesday.

Chief coroner Percy Kinney slammed the inaction of justice and social programs in his report. The report includes findings and recommendations surrounding the murder of three Kugluktuk children at the hands of their father, Steven Ayalik, who then took his own life.

In the early hours of March 26, 1998, Ayalik returned home from a night of drinking and playing cards at a neighbour's house.

"Steven retrieved a 12-gauge, pump-action shotgun from his gun cabinet," Kinney said. "He loaded five shotgun rounds into the weapon and began a systematic elimination of family members."

Ayalik shot and killed three of his four children. The fourth child awoke and confronted his father in one of the bedrooms. Ayalik aimed the shotgun at his young son, but the boy put his hand up and pushed the weapon away.

Ayalik told the child to go to his grandmother's and the boy quickly complied, Kinney said.

"At some point after the child left, Steven sat down on the end of the bed, placed the muzzle of the shotgun in his own mouth and pulled the trigger."

"These were preventable deaths," Kinney said.

Citing the father's previous criminal record of four convictions for violent crime and history of spousal abuse and suicidal tendencies, Kinney blamed the inaction of RCMP, the courts and mainly Social Services in the case.

"I find it very, very difficult to believe that Social Services was not aware of some of the family problems with all of these assault charges going on over the years," Kinney said. "The Social Services worker signed the F.A.C. (Firearms Acquisition Certificate) as a reference and on the F.A.C. it talked about an assault charge," he said.

Kinney said Ayalik's F.A.C. application was still approved and held valid even after four summary convictions for assault.

"One word comes to mind -- hello? Obviously they must have known, or should have known," Kinney added.

"It seems inconceivable that Social Services were unaware of all the activity over the years," he continued. "In fact, Social Services had no contact regarding any child welfare issues until the day of the murder/suicide."

The report outlines 17 recommendations Kinney made to RCMP, Social Services, Justice and the premier.

"If you have violence in the home and there are children there, it is a child welfare issue," Kinney said. "Even if the violence is not directed at the children, they have to live with it, they have to see it."