For Immediate Release
(February 6, 2025 – Iqaluit, Nunavut) Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI) President Jeremy Tunraluk released the 2022-23 Annual Report on the State of Inuit Culture and Society (SICS): Policing in Nunavut: Past, Present, and Future. The SICS report is a requirement under Article 32 of the Nunavut Agreement that must be tabled in the Nunavut Legislature and in Parliament.
Nunavut holds the highest rate of deaths in police custody in Canada, and crime rates continue to rise each year; however, the approach has consistently been to increase the budget and bring in more officers. This approach is not working. A 2021 study concluded that Nunavut’s rate of police-related deaths between 2000 and 2020 was by far the highest in the country, ten times the national average.
The 2022/23 SICS report traces the history of policing in Nunavut citing reports such as the Qikiqtani Truth Commission, collects data to present the current and tragic statistics of policing today, and presents case studies of Indigenous forces and models from across Canada, demonstrating other models of autonomous policing exists and can work.
“As difficult as it is to present the devastating facts around policing in Nunavut, it is vital that we address this longstanding issue impacting Inuit lives and work together with governments and the RCMP to ensure Inuit feel safe in our communities.” Says NTI President Jeremy Tunraluk.
The report also recommends that Inuit organizations, territorial and federal governments and the RCMP must begin working together to immediately take steps to transition the RCMP to a supporting role for an Inuit-led police force.
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Media Contact:
Ivaluarjuk Merritt
Director of Communications
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
