MONTREAL — An officer with the Nunavik Police Service appeared in court Monday to face charges of assault and assault with a weapon, announced Quebec’s police watchdog in a release. The officer, 29, appeared in court in Kuujjuarapik, a town on the shore of Hudson’s Bay in northern Quebec, said the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes, or BEI, who investigated the allegations. The alleged assaults took place on Aug. 26, 2025, in the village of Umiujaq, which is about 160 kilometres northeast of Kuujjuarapik, according to legal documents. Julie Berthold, a spokesperson from the Nunavik Police Service, told The Canadian Press that the investigation began after another officer reported the incident on Jan. 8, 2026. The police chief suspended the accused officer on Jan. 12. “The officers of the Nunavik Police Service are professionals who take their responsibilities very seriously. In fact, it was information provided by one of our own officers that led to the initiation of this investigation," wrote Jean-François Bernier, chief of the police force, in a statement. Neither the police force nor the police watchdog would give further details as this case is ongoing and expected to go to trial. The Quebec police watchdog investigates all criminal allegations against police officers when the victim or complainant is Indigenous. It also investigates allegations of sexual offences involving on-duty police officers and cases where a civilian is killed, badly injured, or shot by an officer in a police intervention or during detention. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2026. Marieke Glorieux-Stryckman, The Canadian Press
