Wearing an embossed orange t-shirt with an image now familiar to many, with the message that all children matter, Noah Noah appeared sitting in front of his window, the icy, snow-covered landscape of Iqaluit stretching beyond him.
The former Inuit liaison officer at Beaver Creek Institution began the proceedings Friday with his testimony as part of the investigation into The sudden death of Mark Jeffrey in 2015 in Gravenhurst Prison.
“I was the bridge between men and the services they sought to access,” he began. “It’s important because it helps Inuit inmates navigate the system.”
That support, he said – in solving personal problems, preparing for parole hearings, arranging phone calls and video calls for men to connect with their families – could bring a great deal of logistics. “Nothing happens until you submit the correct documentation,” he said.
Noah and Jeffrey grew up in the same Iqaluit from the ’80s and’ 90s, but the two never crossed paths until they both met at Beaver Creek. It’s hard to believe, he said, because back then the Arctic city was just a city of 3,500 people.
The couple would spend a lot of time together – Jeffrey, as president of the Beaver Creek Inuk men and Noah as the Inuit liaison officer – working the monthly holidays, Nunavut day, and Christmas celebrations for the Inuk and Indian men in Beaver Creek.
“He was loved,” Noah said of Jeffrey, and highly respected.
Noah started working at Beaver Creek in 2013 and I quickly learned how urgent the need wasIt was because of his role. “I definitely went crazy,” he recalled. He also recalled his own experiences with racism in Beaver Creek, as well as the stories he heard from inmates, racism often came from correctional officers.
Jeffrey spent a lot of time ensuring the safety and well-being of other Inuit. His would be the first face they found upon arrival, and it would show them the ropes at Beaver Creek, Noah said.
Jeffrey was the first inmate to use the video conferencing system at Beaver Creek, calling his family, Noah recalled. She made sure the elders were present, knowing how emotional the experience would be for Jeffrey, as he hadn’t seen his family for over a decade by then.
The prison has strict protocols for physical contact, he explained, but Jeffrey hugged him when the call ended. “This was actually the first time an inmate came up to hug me and I hugged him back.”
Noah testified that he visited Jeffrey while he was in segregation. Looking back, you wish alternative measures had been taken to address Jeffrey’s misconduct, as a healing circle. “His goal was to date Waseskun, but ultimately, his goal was to get out on parole.”
After the five-day automatic segregation review that all inmates receive, it was decided that Jeffrey would remain there. Noah said Jeffrey was deflated, not himself and upset after making so much progress during his time in prison.
Jeffrey languished in segregation for 74 days before hanging himself in his cell with a handmade ligature. In the writings that he left, Jeffrey wrote: “Noah, Noah, I love you. You go out of your way to help us and all Aboriginal staff. “
The first time Noah saw those words was six years later, in a package he received to prepare for the investigation.
It would be Noah who, upon arriving at work one day in June 2015, learned of Jeffrey’s death and was asked to break the news to the Inuit population that they had just lost their 34-year-old leader.
“In fact, they wanted to name the Inuit lands after them,” he said. “Many of them wanted to make sure that … their family knew that Mr. Jeffrey was loved and that he was not alone despite all of this.”
Noah spoke of his regret for not having expressed more the needs he saw unmet, wishing he had pushed for more elders and cultural supports; more connection between liaison officers and probation officers; and for Jeffrey, a dissenting opinion on his state of segregation.
“I don’t think I knew how much weight my word should have had,” he said, calling Jeffrey’s segregation time “excessively long.”
The remainder of Friday included testimony from David Dunk, former Beaver Creek deputy principal. Dunk occasionally stepped in as acting director in 2015, the year Jeffrey died.
Dunk testified that when Jeffrey was in segregation, plans were underway to transfer him to a prison in BC when he was released from that unit. He could no longer stay at Beaver Creek, Dunk said, because there was an “incompatible” fellow inmate at the time.
Dunk testified that interregional transfers, such as those that take place outside the province, moved inmates on scheduled flights about 10 times a year. Jeffrey died on June 29, 2015. The next flight was scheduled for August, which meant that Jeffrey would have spent at least another 32 days in the segregation unit.
When asked if he thought segregation, a practice now prohibited in federal prisons as of 2019, had an impact on Jeffrey’s state of mind, Dunk replied, “I can’t speak to what was going through Mr. Jeffrey.
“You’re asking a hypothetical question to some extent, which I’m not really sure is a fair question,” Dunk said.
The investigation continues on Monday, November 29.
Reference-www.thestar.com