One man is dead and another is in custody following Arviat's first homicide in more than a decade.
Police say Manasie Thompson, 29, was found dead on Tuesday, Feb. 19.
Albert Napayok, 30, faces murder charges.
Arviat Mayor Bob Leonard said the mood in the community has been pretty somber in the days following the death.
Few people expect anything like this to happen in such a close-knit community, he said.
“We don’t have this kind of thing happen very often, so it's a shock,” said Leonard.
“We really don’t have the whole story yet on exactly what happened, so everybody’s waiting to hear what the final version of events actually is.”
Further information from the RCMP was not available as of press time.
Leonard said he hadn’t heard anything concerning outside support for the community, such as grief counsellors.
He said an RCMP officer from Calgary arrived in the community late Feb. 20 to help out with the investigation being conducted by the Nunavut Major Crime Unit.
“This morning (Friday, Feb. 21), they shipped Manasie’s body out for an autopsy, as I understand it.
“We work hard to try and have a community where everybody gets along and respects each other.
“We work on that kind of thing all the time.
“In a situation like this, there’s a whole lot of hugging and holding going on in the community and I don’t know what else we (hamlet council) could do to help ease the shock and pain of it all.”
Leonard said there’s been little discussion going on in the community concerning Thompson’s death.
He said that’s fairly common for Arviat.
“People are being respectful and giving the families involved a chance to come to grips with the situation.”