B.C. visitor says her dream of travelling to the NWT has been 'shattered'

Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, July 3, 2014

INUVIK
A B.C. woman experienced a harrowing first-time trip to Inuvik last month.

She says she was sexually assaulted while sitting in Tonimoe's restaurant at the Mackenzie Hotel.

The woman, who does not want her name published, was sitting in the restaurant when she was allegedly assaulted by a man.

The victim explained she and a female travelling companion had checked into the hotel at about 5:30 p.m. on June 13 after driving up the Dempster Highway and then went into the restaurant.

She said they had ordered appetizers when a man they had never seen before sat down uninvited at their table, briefly talked to them and then moved to another table.

"My appetizers came," she recalled. "I was halfway through it. He came across the room up behind me and just grabbed my shirt and my bra."

The 46-year-old woman said the man grabbed at her exposed breast.

"He had my top ripped down and my bra down," she said. "I pulled it up immediately."

The woman said she got up and pushed the assailant away.

"It was a matter of a few seconds," she said. "I'm a large girl. I got up and pushed him back."

A restaurant employee and another person then jumped in between.

"Everybody was just totally shocked," said the woman, who estimated there were about 16 people in the restaurant.

The victim described the assailant as scruffy-looking caucasian man with long, greying and curly hair.

She said there was no indication he was violent before the alleged attack.

"I didn't smell alcohol," she noted. "He looked like he was on drugs or something."

The RCMP says charges have been laid as a result of an alleged sexual assault at the restaurant on June 13.

"A female victim had reported that she was sexually assaulted while she was having dinner at the hotel’s restaurant," states a news release from the RCMP's 'G' Division, which added the Inuvik RCMP responded immediately and located and arrested a male suspect shortly thereafter.

A 56-year-old Inuvik man, Donald Archibald Campbell, has been charged with sexual assault and uttering threats. Campbell is scheduled to appear in Inuvik Territorial Court on Aug. 12.

Sgt. Barry Ledoux, media relations officer with 'G' Division, said sexual assaults in a public setting such as a restaurant are not common.

"I've not personally heard of a situation where it happened in a restaurant," said Ledoux.

Terrible impression

The incident has left the B.C. woman thinking the NWT is a violent place for women, an opinion confirmed when she and her friend left Inuvik the next day and drove south to Gwich'in Territorial Park, where she found a door to the women's washroom facility riddled with bullet holes.

"That was the final thing for me," she said, noting the door to the men's facilities had no bullet holes.

"It's very disturbing," she noted.

A spokesperson for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment (ITI) said the bullet holes are the result of doors and signs being illegally used for target practice when parks are closed for the season.

"It happens every single year," said Alayna Ward, manager of public affairs and communications with ITI, noting it occurs during waterfowl migration.

Ward said the doors are expensive to replace and that only happens when they become non-functional.

The ITI spokesperson said it is unfortunate when the doors have bullet holes.

The victim of the sexual assault, who is said she is a photographer who came to Inuvik to take photos for a travel book she is working on, said she had wanted to visit the NWT all her life, but, "It was a dream that was just shattered."

She added she was doing well in recovering from a previous sexual assault, which left her with post-traumatic stress disorder and seeking help at a treatment centre.

Now, she is back to square one, she said.