Umiujaq mayor discharged from hospital, recovering after attack
After being badly injured in an attack earlier this week, Umiujaq Mayor Davidee Sappa has been discharged from hospital and is recovering well, according to his sister Mary Sappa.
Davidee Sappa was assaulted in his home on June 23, according to the Nunavik Police Service which released few other details about the incident.
A 47-year-old employee of the municipality, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and breaking and entering, police said.
He appeared in court June 25. As of Thursday afternoon, his next court date had not been listed on the court website.
After the attack, Sappa was medevaced, first to Puvirnituq and then to Montreal for medical care. Police described his injuries as “severe.”
A photo from the hospital, provided by Sappa’s family, shows Davidee Sappa with numerous scrapes and bruises on his face and head, and stitches over his right eye and on his upper lip.
He was discharged from hospital on Wednesday and for now is staying at a hotel in Montreal, Mary Sappa said in a Facebook message to Nunatsiaq News.
“He has been sleeping a lot,” she said, adding doctors are keeping a close eye on him and have scheduled a follow-up appointment on Friday.
Mary Sappa lives in Puvirnituq and could not be with her brother at the hospital. She said she is “so happy to hear that my brother is OK.”
She didn’t say when Davidee Sappa — who was elected mayor in 2021 — will return to his duties.
Meanwhile, the incident has disrupted work at the Northern Village of Umiujaq office.
Akulia Anowak, the municipality’s assistant administrator, said in a phone conversation Wednesday that a lot of employees there have been off work since the incident.
Although his job is not related to payroll, Anowak said he has had to take on that responsibility.
“People have to be paid, and I have to help these people,” he said.
He added: “The [Northern Village] still has to be open, because if it closes, the water truck won’t be running, nothing would be running.”
Anowak declined to answer further questions.
Umiujaq’s treasurer Peter Tookalook also declined to comment on the events that occurred and the state of services offered by the northern village.
Cedric Gallant, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News
