Inquest examines how Tuktoyaktuk’s Sylvia Panaktalok died in custody

Garrett Panaktalok says his mother, Sylvia, was an outgoing woman who enjoyed travelling and spending time on the land.

“She was always making sure we do right, always making sure we were looked after good,” Garrett, the eldest of Sylvia’s eight children, told Cabin Radio.

“She always looked after her family and helped out a lot of family members.”

Sylvia, who was also a grandmother to six, passed away more than three years ago while in RCMP custody in Tuktoyaktuk at the age of 54.

A coroner’s inquest into her death began on Tuesday in Inuvik.

Six jurors are tasked with determining when, where and by what means Sylvia died. They may also make recommendations to prevent similar future deaths.

Coroner Garth Eggenberger said one aim of the inquest is to make the public aware of the circumstances of Sylvia’s death. He described the inquest as “a fact-finding body,” explaining that no one is on trial.

Following an investigation into Sylvia’s death by the Calgary Police Service, the Public Prosecution Service announced in September 2023 that it would not pursue criminal charges.

During the first day of this week’s inquest at the Mackenzie Hotel, relatives described Sylvia as a “friendly, nice grandmother” and hard worker who liked to keep in touch with her family.

Garrett said he is attending the inquest as he wants to find out what happened to his mother. He said the RCMP and guards need to make sure they are checking on intoxicated people in their care and responding quickly when they need help.

Testimony from witnesses

Five witnesses testified on Tuesday, including two people who were with Sylvia on the night she was picked up by police. Tuesday’s other three witnesses were responding officers.

Sylvia’s cousin testified that on July 31, 2021, Sylvia had returned to Tuktoyaktuk from a fish camp. The cousin said Sylvia was drinking with her that afternoon before she left to find her common-law spouse.

Later that evening, the woman said she was woken by her son, who told her Sylvia was passed out on her front steps.

The cousin and another woman living in the home said they tried to wake Sylvia up and get her to come inside. When Sylvia refused, they called RCMP to pick her up and take her to the detachment at around 10pm.

“I just don’t want my cousin to sleep outside,” the cousin could be heard saying on a call to police.

Both women said they were surprised when they learned Sylvia had passed away early the next morning.

“The police are supposed to serve and protect our people,” the other woman testified. “That’s supposed to be a safe and secure place.”

Police testimony

Two constables testified that they responded to the call and helped Sylvia into the back of the RCMP truck before driving the short distance to the detachment.

Video footage from the loading bay of the Tuktoyaktuk detachment shows the two men assisting Sylvia, who appears to have difficulty walking, out of the vehicle and part of the way up a ramp before she falls. One of the officers then goes inside to bring out a sleeping mat on which they place Sylvia before dragging her the rest of the way into the detachment.

Both officers said they had never seen other officers use a mat to help someone into a cell and have not done so since. One of them said he had seen officers dragging people and he used a mat to prevent injuries.

The officers subsequently dragged Sylvia into a cell and rolled her onto her side in the recovery position before leaving her alone. One of them then left for his dinner break.

Around an hour later, the officers testified, the guard on duty notified police that Sylvia appeared to be unresponsive.

One of the officers who had put Sylvia in the cell and a third who was working at the detachment that night were shown on video entering the cell to check on Sylvia. They testified that she was not breathing, her skin was pale, she was cold to the touch and they had difficulty finding a pulse.

The officers took Sylvia on the sleeping mat back into the garage and tried to put her in the back seat of the police truck, planning to take her to the health centre. After struggling to get her inside the vehicle, they began CPR and called for backup.

The officer who was on break and the detachment commander can be seen on video running into the detachment a short time later.

After a dispatch operator contacted the health centre and was told the nurses were not allowed to respond to calls outside the centre, the four men put Sylvia on a spine board and into the bed of the truck. They said the spine board would not fit in the back seat.

“It’s not the first time, unfortunately. This happened a lot during my time in Tuktoyaktuk,” one of the officers said of placing people in the bed of the truck to transport them to the health centre.

Two officers alternated performing CPR on Sylvia as a third officer drove to the health centre.

They said nurses met them outside and Sylvia was taken inside into the emergency room. On the advice of nurses, the three officers testified they alternated performing CPR and squeezing an IV drip. This continued for around 30 minutes until a doctor, speaking to a nurse on the phone, pronounced Sylvia dead around midnight.

“I did as much as I could,” one of the officers testified.

‘The last resort’

All three officers testified that they have CPR and basic first aid training. They said RCMP often act as an ambulance service – an issue that has been highlighted in several NWT communities – as there is no emergency medical service in Tuktoyaktuk and nurses cannot respond to calls outside the health centre.

The officers now serve in communities that have ambulance service, which they said is helpful.

“I don’t think that the medical training we receive is enough,” one of the officers said, noting RCMP are not intended to replace medical staff.

Officers also said they responded to many alcohol-related calls while stationed in Tuktoyaktuk, where there is no sobering centre. They said people who were too intoxicated to take care of themselves would be taken to the RCMP detachment as a “last resort” if they could not stay with friends or family, which they said was not uncommon. In those cases, they said, people would be arrested under the Liquor Act and kept at the detachment until they were sober, when they would be released without charge.

Asked whether Tuktoyaktuk would benefit from having a sobering centre, one of the officers responded: “It shouldn’t even be a question.”

The public inquiry is set to continue on Wednesday and Thursday.

Lawyers said around 14 people are expected to testify, including healthcare workers, a pathologist, a member of the Calgary Police Service and an expert medical witness.