Police reopen investigation into death of Inuit woman
Montreal police have reopened an investigation into the death of Siasi Tullaugak, which had initially been ruled a suicide.
Tullaugak, 27, was found hanging from the balcony of a Chomedey St. apartment on the morning of Aug. 28. At first, police said she took her own life, but a series of new developments in the case suggests there may have been foul play.
The Montreal Gazette has learned that detectives began interviewing people close to Tullaugak Wednesday in hopes of retracing the final hours of her life.
A police spokesperson confirmed that investigators are pursuing “new information” in the case.
One of the last people to see Tullaugak alive was a man who several sources say coerces women into sex work.
Also at issue is the police report, which surfaced last week, that revealed Tullaugak had spoken to officers hours before her death about a man trying to force her into a downtown alley.
“All we’re concerned about is that the truth gets out,” said David Chapman, who runs The Open Door day shelter that Tullaugak frequented.
“I cared about her; we all cared about her and we want to see justice done.”
Sources say police want to interview two men in particular. The first — who nine sources describe as a pimp — was with Tullaugak roughly two hours before police found her body.
The man, who spoke to the Montreal Gazette last week, said he was with Tullaugak in the lobby of a StMarc St. apartment around 4 a.m. on the morning she died.
They had been at a Ste-Catherine St. bar until closing time and walked to the apartment — which people in the neighbourhood colloquially refer to as “the crack hotel.” He said he saw her leave the building with a second man — described as being in his mid- to late 30s. His version of events was corroborated by two witnesses who were in the lobby at the time.
Investigators want to speak with the man who reportedly left the apartment with Tullaugak at 4 a.m. The two witnesses say they took off in a silver car.
These sources say they were rebuffed by a police officer on Aug. 28 when they tried offering information about the man they saw her leave the lobby with.
“A lot of the details about this just don’t add up,” said a friend of Tullaugak’s on Thursday. “They were in an apartment where people buy, sell and smoke crack. Then she leaves with a man and two hours later she decided to kill herself ?
“And earlier that night she called police claiming someone was trying to hurt her. Why would she hang herself right after asking for help? It doesn’t make sense.”
None of the dozen sources interviewed by the Gazette believe the 27-year-old killed herself. The people who shared her struggles with addiction and those who tried to help her find a way off the streets describe her as a troubled but feisty young woman.
“There are people, you hear about them taking their own lives, and it isn’t that surprising,” said John Tessier, an outreach worker at The Open Door. “It’s sad when that happens, but there are always signs. We didn’t see any of those signs with (Tullaugak).”
Tessier says he thinks police weren’t thorough in their investigation of Tullaugak’s death because she was homeless, Inuk and an addict. Two sources say it took investigators more than two weeks, from the time Tullaugak died, to visit The Open Door — a shelter she visited almost daily.
The Open Door was at the epicentre of Tullaugak’s social life: it’s where she ate her lunches, used the computer terminals to contact her family in the North and met up with friends. It’s where she confided in outreach workers and sought help to get sober.
After Tullaugak died, it was Chapman, Tessier and the volunteers at the shelter who helped organize her memorial service and reach out to her family in Puvirnituq, an Inuit village in Nunavik near the Hudson Bay in northern Quebec.
The people at the shelter could have offered information about who Tullaugak was, who she associated with and what her state of mind would have been in the final days of her life.
But sources say detectives first came to the shelter on Wednesday — 17 days after Tullaugak’s body was found.
Carlo De Angelis, the Montreal police’s Aboriginal liaison officer, says investigators have been exhaustive in their work on the Tullaugak file. Furthermore, he says he has been working with shelters like Chez Doris — where Tullaugak was a client — to raise awareness about the dangers of sexual exploitation.
De Angelis visited Chez Doris last week and helped guide an information session on how women can reach out to police for help. Sources say some of the women there are coerced into sex work through threats and violence.
“It went well and I think we need to keep doing what we can to help vulnerable Inuit women in the city,” he said. “My job is to be in contact with the community and keep building that trust.”
The executive director of Chez Doris, Marina Boulos-Winton, says Inuit women often fear that if they report an abuser to police, they will be the target of reprisals.
“Given the fear of reprisals and distrust toward authority because of history, racism ... they unfortunately do not file reports and these problems seem to be worsening,” she said. “Their reality is constant discrimination and marginalization.”