The 143-bed facility provides accommodation, transport and the services of nurses and interpreters to coordinate the stay of Inuit flown from their communities in northern Quebec to Montreal for medical treatment – everything from life-threatening emergencies to routine treatments.

Beyond the obvious need for a facility of this nature, what caught my attention was the article’s focus on the process that led to Ullivik’s creation, and the ongoing work to keep it high-functioning for the people in its care. The article’s headline was, “Mutual respect means Inuit feel at home in city of Dorval”, and the sub-heading read, “Cooperation has been a game changer, police say about Ullivik … and its director, Maggie Putulik.”

I posted the article noting that “this is what Reconciliation looks like. Indigenous leaders working in partnership with non-Indigenous community leaders, health professionals and law enforcement to build a health facility for Inuit. An Inuit leader – Maggie Putulik – educating and sensitizing about Inuit needs and realities, and local authorities committing to serve those needs with genuine care and respect.”

This tale of mutual trust and partnership was so hopeful, it made me cry.

Not long after, we learned that an Inuit woman in Montreal had gone missing. Mina Aculiak, from an isolated northern community, speaking no French and little English, was recovering from surgery at a rehabilitation center. Ms. Aculiak had become intoxicated and police had been called in to assist, taking her to a detention cell in an industrial section of Montreal to sober up. Aculiak was released, around midnight, into a city she did not know, bandaged, still wearing her hospital ID bracelet, and with a catheter dangling from her arm. It apparently didn’t occur to police to return her to the rehabilitation facility where she had been recuperating, but they did think to give her a bus ticket.

Six days after she’d gone “missing”, Aculiak was found by police, 9 kilometers from the rehabilitation facility. Police described her as being in “good condition”. Some remarked that an incident like this would not have occurred in Dorval; that police there would have known to return Mina Aculiak to Ullivik, where she could be cared for by people who understood her. Hopefully we won’t ever have to find out.

The stories of Ullivik and Mina Aculiak provide a study in contrasts. Ullivik is a success story. It shows what Reconciliation between Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous Canadians can look like. The disappearance of Aculiak is a story of — well, I’m not sure what to call it: stupidity, insensitivity, or, dare I say it, racism. How much sensitivity training does it take to know that you don’t turn an obviously vulnerable woman, who doesn’t speak the language and doesn’t know her way, into the nighttime streets of industrial Montreal?

“Unacceptable”, said Mayor Valerie Plante. INCOMPREHENSIBLE is more like it.

You can read more about these two stories at the links below:

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/mutual-respect-means-inuit-feel-at-home-in-city-of-dorval
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-indigenous-leaders-outraged-by-case-of-injured-inuit-woman-who-went/