Savanna Pikuyak was a bright, promising young woman whose murder in Ottawa deprived her community of a future Inuk leader and has made other young people fearful of leaving the North to pursue their dreams, a court has heard.
Nikolas Ibey was found guilty of first-degree murder on Tuesday for killing the 22-year-old days after she arrived from Sanirajak, Nunavut, to study nursing in September 2022.
Ahead of his sentencing to life imprisonment without possibility of parole for 25 years, Ottawa’s Superior Court heard victim impact statements that offered insight into Pikuyak’s character and the devastation her murder has wrought on her family and community.
‘Destined to be great’
“She was destined to be great,” wrote Yvonne Pilakapsi, a first cousin.
That Pikuyak was destined for greatness was reflected in another statement from “Emily,” who wrote that Pikuyak’s loss had compromised a better future for Sanirajak, Nunavut and the Inuit people.
Pikuyak’s sister Geneva was in the courtroom to hear the verdict and stood holding a photo of her sister as a Crown attorney read her victim impact statement.
I am happy that she is no longer scared.Geneva Pikuyak
Geneva said her sister was a “bright, silly soul” who unified their family. Her loss was not just that of a beloved family member but also of a “future Inuk influencer” and “a leader within the community.”
Pikuyak was born with a heart murmur, Geneva said.
“I think that may have caused the reason why she was so easily scared. I am happy that she is no longer scared.”
Others spoke of how Pikuyak had overcome challenges and fear of leaving the North to study nursing in Ottawa.
Kirsty Williams, a nurse in Sanirajak, spoke via videolink about how she had counselled Pikuyak when she was a teenager and later became a friend.
She described how Pikuyak, who had a “quirky, wonderful sense of humour,” wanted to better herself and her community.
“When she said she, too, wanted to be a nurse, I was so proud of her,” Williams said, choking back sobs. “Her deep-rooted sense of morals and ethics, her need to help others, her need to make something of herself. Her commitment to her community and to making it stronger.”
Williams described how other young students she counselled are now fearful of leaving Nunavut to chase their dreams.
“They tell me that perhaps they are safest not going away to college [and] just staying here, where perhaps their chances of fulfilling their dreams may be diminished, but at least they won’t be dead.”
That sentiment was echoed in a community impact statement signed by a local principal, a member of the Sanirajak Health Centre and other community members.
“For the students especially, this tragedy has created a climate of fear and insecurity,” the statement read. “Many are now fearful for their personal safety, uncertain about whether they should continue their education — chase their dreams of becoming, doctors, nurses, engineers, to name but a few — or just stay home where they feel safe.”
Disproportionate violence against Indigenous women
Several of the statements spoke of how Pikuyak’s death was not an isolated anomaly, but part of a broad pattern of disproportionate violence against Indigenous women in Canada.
“Savanna spent a large part of her life trying to not be a statistic and to break away from stereotypes and intergenerational trauma,” said her friend Leesa Leroy, who spoke via videolink from Calgary.
“Despite her best efforts, Savanna became a statistic as a raped and murdered Indigenous woman in Canada,” she said through tears.
A national inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls published in 2019 found the homicide rate among Indigenous women in Canada is nearly six times higher than for non-Indigenous women.
Factors making Indigenous women unsafe include the fact that they are more likely to have to leave their home communities to pursue higher education, as Pikuyak had done, said Ingrid Green, the interim CEO of the Ontario Native Women’s Association.
“Having to leave the community increases somebody’s unsafety because that puts them in a vulnerable position” — in an unfamiliar city where they can be targeted — “because of their race and because they’re women,” she told CBC.
In court, Pikuyak’s family wore T-shirts calling for “Justice for MMIW,” referring to missing and murdered Indigenous women. Her mother Sheba’s statement placed her daughter’s death specifically within a context of ongoing oppression of Inuit.
“In my heart I want to find forgiveness for murdering my panik,” she wrote, using the Inuktitut word for daughter.
“Our lives have been colonized but we Inuit will not revenge,” she wrote. “We were taught to forgive.”
Support is available for anyone affected by these reports and the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people. Immediate emotional assistance and crisis support are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through a national hotline at 1-844-413-6649.
You can also access, through the government of Canada, health support services such as mental health counselling, community-based support and cultural services, and some travel costs to see elders and traditional healers. Family members seeking information about a missing or murdered loved one can access Family Information Liaison Units.