Kikkik was an Inuit woman who, in 1958, was charged with murder, child neglect and causing the death of one of her childen.
Henik Lake
Kikkik was a member of the Ihalmiut (Ahiarmiut), a Caribou Inuit band, who had originally lived in the Ennadai Lake area. In 1949, the Ihalmiut were relocated by the Government of Canada to Nueltin Lake. However, hunting was poor at Nueltin and over time the people returned to Ennadai. In 1957, the Government again moved the Ihalmiut, now numbering 59 people, to the Henik Lake area, 45 miles from the closest trading post, Padlei.(Damas, 2002)
Desperate circumstances
During the winter, the caribou did not appear and the group began to starve. Kikkik, her husband, Hallow (Hallauk) and their children (daughters Ailoyoak, Annecatha, Nesha, and baby Nokahhak Elisapee; son Karlak) had their igloo close to her half-brother Ootek (Ootuk) and his family. Ootek, who had not been able to provide for his family, visited Hallow having told his wife that he was going to the trading post at Padlei. Hallow left to go fishing and after a short period he was followed by Ootek, who had brought his rifle. Creeping up behind Hallow who was fishing, Ootek shot him in the back of the head.
Ootek then returned to Kikkik's igloo but she became suspicious and followed him as he left the igloo. He shot at her but she pushed the rifle aside. She fought with Ootek, who was weak from hunger, and forced him to the ground and he confessed to the murder. Kikkik, who was sitting on Ootek got a knife from Karlak, but it wasn't sharp enough to kill Ootek. One of her other children then brought her another knife and she killed Ootek with it.
Kikkik then loaded up a sled with the few supplies she had and with her five children began the 45 mile walk to Padlei. After a few days she met Yahah, Hallow's brother, and she followed him to his camp. She waited there while her brother-in-law went to Padlei. After five days, without food, and no sign of Yahah, she, again with the children resumed her trek. After a few days she was unable to continue with all the children and left Annecatha and Nesha, wrapped in seal skin, in an igloo she made with a frying pan.
Rescue and trial
Kikkik was later picked up by a Royal Canadian Mounted Police aircraft that also was able to find the two girls, one of whom had died. Kikkik was charged with the murder of Ootek, child neglect for abandoning Annecatha, and causing the death of daughter, Nesha.
At her trial, in Rankin Inlet, presided over by John Sissons, she was found not guilty of all charges. Sissons, in his remarks to the jury said the case "demands that we revert our thinking to an earlier age and try to understand Kikkik and her life and her land and her society" and that she should be judged by her culture.
Aftermath
Her story was featured in the 1959 book The Desperate People by Farley Mowat. Kikkik never talked about this part of her life and her children did not learn of it until Annecatha read the book. Kikkik's story was also turned into two documentaries featuring daughter Elisapee (neé Nurrahaq [or Nokahhak]) Karetak in 2000 (English and 2002 (Inuktitut).
Sources
- Damas, David. Arctic Migrants/Arctic Villagers The Transformation of Inuit Settlement in the Central Arctic. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2002. ISBN 0773524053
- Eber, Dorothy. Images of Justice A Legal History of the Northwest Territories As Traced Through the Yellowknife Courthouse Collection of Inuit Sculpture. McGill-Queen's native and northern series, 28. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1997. ISBN 0773516751
- Tester, Frank J., and Peter Keith Kulchyski. Tammarniit (Mistakes) Inuit Relocation in the Eastern Arctic, 1939-63. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1994. ISBN 978-0774804523
- Remembering Kikkik
- Kikkik, When Justice Was Done
External links
- There were three carvings commissioned by John Sissons to represent the case: