IQALUIT - The commanding officer of the RCMP in Nunavut said the organization is going to do its best to implement the recommendations made by the jury at the inquest on the death of Elisapee Michael, but they might not all be feasible.

Supt. Howard Eaton speaks to reporters about the RCMP's reaction and thoughts on the recommendations made by the jury at the inquest on the death of Elisapee Michael. The RCMP held a press conference on April 16 in Iqaluit. - Emily Ridlington/NNSL photo

"Some of them are not going to be easy to implement and some of them we won't be able to," said Supt. Howard Eaton, officer in charge of criminal operations at V Division, as he spoke to reporters at a press conference in the capital on April 16.

Eaton provided the RCMP's reaction and thoughts on the nine recommendations directed at the RCMP. The jury made 29 in total at the conclusion of the inquest on April 14.

Michael died as a result of a head injury on Aug. 13, 2009 at Ottawa Hospital after being medevaced from Iqaluit. On Aug. 8 she had been drinking at the bar in the Nova Inn. She was asked to leave and was seen falling down the stairs of hotel. After being sent by ambulance to Qikiqtani General Hospital and examined, she was deemed to be disruptive by hospital staff, who called the RCMP. On Aug. 9, she was found in her RCMP cell unresponsive in a pool of vomit and taken back to the hospital in Iqaluit. She was medevaced to Ottawa on Aug. 10.

Eaton said some of the recommendations, at this point, will only be able to be implemented in Iqaluit due to a lack of resources. One such recommendation was to have all cells equipped with cameras. "We don't have control over that and it's an expensive undertaking and is not something we can do right away," he said. A number of the recommendations from the jury focused on ensuring the guards are properly trained and that they do a rousability test on all intoxicated prisoners every two hours. "We can do it here (Iqaluit) because there's people working day or night," Eaton said. He acknowledged it is harder to do in the smaller communities which are often only staffed by two officers and whose jails do not have 24-hour coverage. Now, in the communities prisoners are checked on every four hours.

"We're trying to figure out how we're going to do it," he said. "We have two members, ... they get called out, they go out and go back to bed – maybe the guards are going to be part of that."

Two of the three guards who monitored Michael in the cells had not signed off on the guard manuals. Eaton said now proper procedures are being followed, and training of members and guards is being checked to ensure it is updated.

The jury also wanted to ensure an Inuktitut speaking translator was available at all times at the detachment.

"In Iqaluit we have Inuktitut-speaking members and in most of the smaller detachments the people who come in and guard are local people that speak Inuktitut," he said.

When RCMP members pick up a patient and transfer them from the hospital to cells, Eaton said officers are now "a lot more conscientious about why the person is at the hospital in the first place." Now, when members arrive at the hospital, they are supposed to talk to a physician and get a signed form the patient is medically fit to stay in cells. As for the jury's suggestion the Qikiqtani General Hospital should have a holding room for intoxicated or disruptive patients, as long as they not endangering themselves or others, Eaton said the RCMP would support that. "A police cell is not the place for a person undergoing medical issues." He said RCMP realize implementing this may require additional funds and staff on the part of the hospital, but the police would be willing to contribute with guards. "We're all for it," he said. Const. Russell Akeeagok said the RCMP conducted an independent review shortly after Michael's death, which had 10 recommendations.

Eaton said the recommendations were implemented right away and came from a police officer's perspective.

Included were such things as following guidelines about respecting people into custody, ensuring information about patients from the hospital being transfered from cells is clear and that guards have up-to-date CPR, first aid and general training.

Ultimately, Eaton said while the RCMP feels bad about what happened, a certain amount of accountability lies with the individual.

"There are no guarantees in this business and when somebody gets arrested and brought into cells we have absolutely no idea what they were doing or what they ingested prior."

In a response to the jury's three recommendations directed to the City of Iqaluit, chief administration officer John Hussey issued a press release on April 15.

The press release stated the city has hired a building inspector to review building code standards and is in the midst of implementing forms which would be filled out by emergency medical responders once a patient is brought to the hospital via ambulance.

The city is also reviewing how a computer aided dispatch system could be used to track EMR services.

Just over half of the recommendations from the jury, 16 out of 29, were targeted at the Department of Health and Social Services.

It issued a statement on April 19.

"The department would like to assure the public that it will consider these recommendations carefully before responding formally."

No timeline was given as to when a formal response would be issued.

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