Nunavut man shot dead by Winnipeg police had violent history connected to longing for home

There’s a memorial wall at Tunngasugit Inuit Resource on Selkirk Avenue.

“This is in memory of Inuit we have lost,” says CEO Nikki Komaksiutiksak , next to the wall with more than a dozen photos of Inuit who’ve died in Winnipeg facing “numerous challenges while navigating urban life.”

The next photo to be added will be Jordan Charlie, 24, the Inuk shot and killed by police after stabbing an officer in the neck at a Unicity shopping complex on Sunday evening.

Charlie was taken at a young age from his home in Taloyoak, Nunavut, and bounced around to different provinces and territories through the child welfare system.

His first brush with the law as an adult happened in Yellowknife in 2019 when without warning or provocation, according to CKLB radio, he stabbed a man in the neck, stole his marijuana and while in custody, viciously attacked a jail guard.

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Yellowknife’s NNSL Media reported that Charlie’s lawyer, Baljinder Rattan, told the court her client suffered from borderline personality traits and oppositional defiant disorder in the “backdrop of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.” Several suicide attempts also reportedly affected his cognitive ability.

Rattan reportedly told the court her client acted out violently in part, because he wanted to be sent home to Nunavut.

“Even if he was sent back in a coffin, he wanted to go back to Nunavut,” Rattan was quoted by NNSL Media.

Instead, Charlie was sent to Stony Mountain Institution north of Winnipeg to serve a 4.5 year sentence. When Charlie was released, he found himself stranded in Winnipeg. A common story, says Komaksiutiksak.

“There are no relationships between the justice system in Nunavut and the justice system in Manitoba, particularly,” she says. “And as a result of that, there are complex barriers that are associated with the lack of supports and and the lack of of understanding that our people need in order to thrive as community members. And so we’ve seen this time and time again.”

Charlie struggled with homelessness and addiction sought kinship of fellow Inuit through Tunngasugit. But it wasn’t enough.

“Every system that was in place for him that was supposed to be there to support and help and help keep the community protected from some of the behaviors that he was displaying, all dropped the ball and just stopped working with him,” Komaksiutiksak says.

The result was a revolving door of crimes and more jail time.

Charlie’s wish to get home “even in a coffin” is one of the services Tunngasugit will assist with. They ensure Inuit who die in Winnipeg “are transported back to their home territory to be buried appropriately,” Komaksiutiksak said.

In the meantime, the Independent Investigations Unit of Manitoba is investigating while the police officer who was stabbed in the neck recovers.

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