Nunavut RCMP worries for woman who might be with David Mikkigak, officers and community
RCMP says it has talked to Mikkigak’s mother, brother and most regularly his uncle
Police say the waiting game they are playing with David Mikkigak — the Cape Dorset, Nunavut, man who's been evading them since June — is the only way to keep everyone safe.
The RCMP said it is looking for family members to contact Mikkigak to convince him to come back to town by boat and turn himself in.
In response to concerns from Mikkigak's family members that the RCMP has not reached out to them, despite police calls for the family and community's help, Staff Sgt. Mark Crowther said Mikkigak has a large family.
He said they have talked to Mikkigak's mother, brother and most regularly his uncle, Quvianaqtulia Takpaungai.
Takpaungai said he's worried police calls for the community to stop sending Mikkigak food and supplies is bad for his mental health. Crowther said police hope the tactic will convince Mikkigak to come back to town.
In their initial conversations, Crowther said Takpaungai offered to visit Mikkigak where he's hiding out, but said after Mikkigak acted on threats to shoot at strangers, Crowther said he would prefer his family reach out by radio or telephone.
"We're not advocating sailing out there to have a conversation with him," Crowther said. "It's very dangerous."
Officers could be 'very vulnerable'
Crowther said the RCMP will not be sending officers out to Mikkigak because they are not sure of his exact location, though they would provide a negotiator if Mikkigak wants one.
"It's an isolated area where we believe David might be, it's a coastline, it can be very challenging to get at, so for that matter, we can't just have our members walking haphazardly because they'll leave themselves very open, very vulnerable."
Crowther said another reason to take a cautious approach is that there might be a woman staying with Mikkigak.
"We're concerned for her safety too," he said. "David has committed a number of crimes, we all know that, Cape Dorset knows that, but right now that's secondary. What's primary for us, is to make sure he turns himself in and nobody gets hurt."
Mikkigak is charged with assault, forcible confinement and firearms-related offences.
"If David gives himself up he'll be treated with dignity, with respect, we'll get him food, we'll get him any medical treatment he needs, but ultimately David will have to answer to what charges are against him."
Translators will be found
Crowther said police have been using translators and if community members come forward with information, translators from Cape Dorset will be found to work with them.
He said in the case of the police entering into Mikkigak's mother's home with guns, they'd received a tip that Mikkigak might be hiding out there and made a tactical decision.
"We had a conversation with the mother, of course we apologized to her, we explained why we do the things we do. And we had two Inuktitut-speaking members from the Iqaluit detachment here reach out to her, and the indication at the time was she was quite satisfied with why we did what we did."
With files from Pauline Pemik