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30 homicides in NWT since 2001 Paul Bickford Northern News Services Published Monday, July 9, 2012
A man and a woman were killed on June 28 in Hay River and earlier that month, a woman died in an Edmonton hospital as the result of a June 16 incident in Fort Resolution. Unfortunately, homicide - murder or manslaughter - is a continuing issue in the NWT, which is somewhat surprising considering the territory's population of approximately 41,000. In the 10-year period from 2001 to 2010, there were 25 homicides in the Northwest Territories, according to a study being prepared by Cathy Menard, the chief coroner for the NWT. Menard added there were two homicides in 2011 and the three so far this year, bringing the number of slain since 2001 to 30. "It is very troubling. It is very disturbing," Menard said, noting most victims died at the hands of people they knew. Menard said, from 2001 to 2010 by region, 11 people were killed in the North Slave, seven in the Inuvik region, four in the South Slave and three in the Sahtu. "Homicide deaths account for approximately three per cent of all the deaths that are reported with an average over that 10-year study of 2.5 a year," she said. Last year, one person was killed south of Enterprise and another in Tuktoyaktuk. Through observing the 10-year period to 2010, Menard found that 10 people died of blunt trauma, eight from stabbing, five from firearms and two by strangulation. A majority of the victims - 80 per cent - were males. Menard said there have not been many homicides as a result of domestic abuse of women in the NWT, although she pointed to the case of Alice Black - who was beaten to death in Gameti in 2009 - and a few more victims in the last couple of years. "But it's not something that we've predominantly seen a lot of and our numbers show that," Menard said. The majority of homicide victims were between 30 and 39 years of age. Approximately 85 per cent of homicide deaths in the NWT are alcohol or drug related, Menard noted. Her study also shows 41 of the 84 suicides and 57 per cent of the 124 accidental deaths involved alcohol. Menard's decade-long study - the first one she has done - is in the final stages of preparation for the Department of Justice and will be part of her annual report. According to Statistics Canada, the NWT's homicide rate averaged 5.6 over the years 2000 to 2009, based on an average of two deaths annually. (The rate is based on 100,000 people, meaning it is higher than the actual number of homicides per year in the NWT, which has 41,462 people according to the 2011 census.) From 2000 to 2009, the NWT's homicide rate was only lower than the Yukon at 6.0 and Nunavut, which had an astounding homicide rate of 12.0. One of the NWT communities affected by homicide in recent years has been Hay River, where the deaths include a double killing last month and the murder of RCMP Const. Chris Worden in 2007. Mayor Ken Latour said a homicide forces a community to look at itself."That's not always a comfortable process or an easy process, but I think it's an important one," he said. "And I think that's what happened in the wake of Const. Worden's murder some time ago." Latour said, while some people think nothing has changed since that murder, he sees some constructive changes. "One of the biggest things is the formation of a really strong community interagency," he said, noting it has launched some very successful programs. "So I think there are many sides to dealing with murder in your community," Latour said. "There are issues that require both a social approach and an enforcement approach. In terms of the social approach, those are things like the interagency and the increased programming. Even the Town of Hay River has stepped up its game in the last few years where we offer more programming for not just youth but people of all ages." While homicide often involves people who know each other, Latour said there are certain conditions in society that can make homicide more likely to happen. For example, he noted Emrah Bulatci, the killer of Const. Worden, was a drug trafficker from Edmonton who was in Hay River to sell drugs, and society can takes steps to reduce the drug trade. Plus, the mayor noted there are broad social factors affecting not just the NWT, but all of Northern Canada, such as alcoholism and substance abuse. "In terms of enhancing people's lives and reducing poverty and desperation and the isolation and marginalization that a lot of people feel up here, I think there's a lot that can be done to make it less likely that murders of this nature will happen up here," he said, adding the NWT is also experiencing the effects of colonization and the total lifestyle change that means for people. Kristine Vannebo-Suwala, executive director of the Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre on the Hay River Reserve, has a different perspective on the role alcohol and drugs play in homicides. "I don't think alcohol and drugs cause criminal acts," she said. "I think it's really important to say that people that are suffering from an addiction are suffering from a lot of trauma." Vannebo-Suwala noted trauma from colonization, residential schools, sexual abuse, and violence in families and communities result in alcohol and drug use as a way to cope. One of the priorities of the Status of Women Council of the NWT is to raise awareness about family violence. Lorraine Phaneuf, the organization's executive director, said the GNWT announced last month that $367,000 in additional funding will be allocated towards preventing family violence. "We're very pleased about that," she said, adding she hopes part of the funding will be used for a social media campaign to help everyone understand the devastation created by family violence. The GNWT has allocated an additional $49,000 to support a community-based intervention program for men. "We're saddened by the events for sure," Phaneuf said of homicides in the NWT. "But the only thing we can do is move forward and look at ways to address the violence and the terrible tragedies that have happened over the last few years." Fact file Homicide by the numbers The following statistics on homicides in the Northwest Territories are from a study on the years 2001-2010 by Cathy Menard, the chief coroner of the NWT. 25 - homicides from 2001-2010 Homicides by region: 11 - North Slave 7 - Inuvik region 4 - South Slave 3 - Sahtu Causes of death: 10 - blunt trauma 8 - stabbing 5 - firearms 2 -strangulation 80 per cent of victims were males 85 per cent of homicide deaths involved alcohol or drugs Source: NWT chief coroner
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