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IKALUKTUTIAK/CAMBRIDGE BAY - The young man who jumped out of a plane 23,000 feet in the air over the barren lands between Yellowknife and Cambridge Bay was described as "confused" two days prior to his death.

Julian Tologanak-Labrie with his son Felix on March 18, 2009. A hockey teammate of Tologanak-Labrie's says Julian was acting confused and asking if others had heard rumours about him two days before his death. - photo courtesy of Navalik Tologanak

Tony Demerah of Kugluktuk had been with Julian Tologanak-Labrie on Monday, April 13, following a weekend of hockey in which the two had been teammates on the Kugluktuk team. Although Tologanak-Labrie was living in Cambridge Bay, he had a relationship with a woman in Kugluktuk and had been spending time there.

Demerah said Tologanak-Labrie suddenly decided not to get on the return flight to Kugluktuk with his hockey teammates Monday.

"He just seemed confused the morning when he pulled his stuff off the plane," Demerah recalled.

"He had just started asking a lot of questions about what we had heard about him. Within the day or two before we left – it was Saturday and Sunday – he just kept asking me and a bunch of other people, 'What rumours have you heard about me,' and this and that. I just brushed it off. I thought he was joking, actually."

Demerah and Tologanak-Labrie had sat together on the plane trip to Yellowknife and roomed together at the Yellowknife Inn over the weekend of the tournament. It was the first time they got to know each other.

"He told me about his family. I told him about mine," Demerah said.

He said he learned that Tologanak-Labrie and his girlfriend in Kugluktuk were having problems. As well, he said Tologanak-Labrie was worried about being arrested upon his return to Kugluktuk because someone from Cambridge Bay was supposed to sell a couple of bottles of alcohol on his behalf to give him money for the weekend.

"That seemed to bug him quite a bit, and then when he was fighting with his girlfriend, I guess the two things combined," he said of Tologanak-Labrie's troubles. "He did tell me that he didn't have a job and he had been applying at a lot of places. He seemed to be somewhat depressed, a little bit."

Charlotte Lyall, who was the only other passenger on that fateful April 15 flight to Cambridge Bay, said Tologanak-Labrie showed signs of depression on board the plane.

"It looked like he had lots of anger," she said. "He wouldn't talk or he didn't really want to do anything."

Asked whether the pilots came back to the cabin to confront Tologanak-Labrie when he became agitated, Lyall replied, "That's just gossip."

Still upset from the incident in the plane, Lyall said she wasn't willing to say anything more about the fatal incident.

Tologanak-Labrie's final night in Yellowknife, April 14, was spent at a friend's room at Nova Court hotel in Yellowknife.

Lawyer Steven Cooper, a longtime friend of the Tologanak family, said he's concerned about the family's healing and ensuring their interests are taken care of.

"The family interest is ensuring that everything was done right – determining what happened. Who did what, why, when and where. Once we determine that then we can start to make the obvious assessments, and there's no surprise here, about liability, if any," he said. "We don't know any answers. We don't know a lot of the facts yet. Time will tell."

Navalik Helen Tologanak, Julian's mother, said she wants to find out why Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife released him following a mental health assessment, even though she did request he be sent home.

"He didn't know what to do. He was confused," she said. "I'm hoping there's video tapes and stuff."

Kay Lewis, CEO of Stanton Territorial Health Authority, speaking in general terms, said those brought in under the Mental Health Act are evaluated and if they are deemed competent, they can no longer be held. A patient deemed competent can be released on his own; an escort isn't required, she said.

A doctor does the initial assessment and a follow-up consultation with a psychiatrist, usually done the following day, may be ordered, Lewis said. The hospital has a designated room for those who must remain in its care, she said.

Lewis said she's not worried about a lawsuit against the hospital.

"Basically, I don't know how to answer that really – no," she said. "There are always processes to look at improvement, but our intent is to improve rather than looking at litigation."

Asked whether she felt anyone at Adlair Air did anything wrong, Navalik Tologanak replied, "They were trying to help. That's what they were doing; they were trying to help."

Cooper said there have been a number of suggestions and rumours in the media about Julian's behaviour and his past, but they are not "terribly relevant" and may not be true.

"Every kid has his issues and his problems. Julian was no different. He was no saint, certainly.

"The family is concerned that all that's going to be remembered about their son are the rumours and innuendo and, ultimately, how he ended his life in this unfortunately spectacular way."

Cooper said he and the family plan to release a statement in the near future.

The incident has drawn international media attention with coverage from as far away as China and Australia.