Two Nunavik women dead in separate Montreal highway incidents
Posted August 22, 2022 9:10 am.
Last Updated August 22, 2022 6:47 pm.
Two Nunavik women in their 20s have died in separate incidents after being hit by vehicles on Montreal-area highways.
Sûreté du Québec spokesperson Sgt. Stéphane Tremblay said the two incidents are not connected, but the two women were living at the Ullivik lodging facility, where Inuit from Nunavik stay while seeking medical services in Montreal.
“If these individuals came to Montreal and they weren’t necessarily supported the way that they’re supposed to be, and this is all speculation, and if that could have contributed to their untimely passing, I think that we have to evaluate how we send these people down, how we bring them into the city, how we take care of them and how we make sure that they’re safe while they’re here,” said Robert Bonspiel, president and director general of First Nations paramedics.
Both incidents happened in Dorval, a short distance away from Ullivik, which is located near Trudeau Airport.
On Friday at around 4:15 a.m., police were called to respond to a woman in a wheelchair who was “seriously injured” after being hit by a vehicle on Highway 520.
The woman, who was identified by police as 22-year-old Mary-Jane Tulugak from Puvirnituq, was taken to hospital where she later died. The driver of the vehicle was also taken to hospital “in shock,” Tremblay said.
22-year-old Mary-Jane Tulugak from Puvirnituq. (Credit: Mary-Jane Tulugak / Facebook)
The second incident took place less than 24 hours later.
At around 1:20 a.m. on Saturday morning, 26-year-old Nellie Niviaxie from Umiujaq was pronounced dead at the scene after being struck by “several” vehicles on Highway 20, Tremblay said.
SQ collision investigators are looking into what happened in both incidents, Tremblay said, but no charges are expected to be laid.
RELATED:
“There’s no criminal investigation on the drivers who hit in both cases,” Tremblay said.
Tremblay also said that police are looking into why the two women were on dangerous highways, in areas where pedestrians are not supposed to walk.
Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services said in a statement to CityNews.
“Both victims of the road were clients of Ullivik and were women. Ullivik is a housing establishment for Inuit of Nunavik, who come in the south of the province to receive specialized healthcare. The name Ullivik means: a place to stay or wait. The facility offers accommodation, food services, transportation to healthcare appointments, liaison nurses and interpreter services.”
Bonspiel says, “Services such as medical services that we take for granted here in the southern part of the province are not necessarily available in northern Quebec and northern Canada, so there the individuals might have to come to Montreal or to a larger metropolitan area to receive those services.”
Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services says they don’t know why the victims were on the road.
“Ultimately the coroner’s report, if there is one, and there seems to have been an investigation that’s underway, will probably point more to that,” Bonspiel said. “But I’m hoping that everybody takes it upon themselves, prior to actually finalizing the report, to try and adjust the system to make sure that in the meantime, we can do something to better protect northern members.”
