In 2012, 26 year-old Solomon Uyarasuk died while in RCMP custody in Igloolik, Nunavut. The authorities reported Solomon killed himself using a shoelace while in his cell. Suicide is unfortunately a much too common occurrence in Nunavut; especially amongst the Inuit community. Solomon’s family and friends just could not accept the fact he had killed himself; not in the circumstances described by the authorities.

How does an entire community make sense of such loss? And how can the rest of Canada pay more attention to this very serious issue affecting one of its communities? These are some of the questions raised in the documentary SOL directed by Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Susan Avingaq. The filmmakers have set out to tell Solomon’s story while raising awareness about the high numbers of suicide in this Northern Inuit community.

Deeming this a very important issue, I posed some questions to director Marie-Hélène Cousineau about Solomon, this documentary, and how she and co-director Susan Avingaq gathered a community to talk about their history, losing their loved ones to suicide, and wishing to keep their traditions alive.

HM: My understanding is that you knew Solomon Uyarasuk, the young artist we come to know through your film. Could you please share how telling Solomon’s story has opened up the community of Igloolik to talk about suicide?

Marie-Hélène Cousineau (MHC): Yes I knew him since he was first 6 or 7 years old; a little boy, very cute and gentle. I was afraid people would not want to talk about suicide but as we went filming I realized they were open to share their pain and drama and hope and solutions because they want the situation to change. Young Inuit men have 13 times the suicide rate than other Canadians. It is not acceptable. Now we will bring the film in the communities and we will see how people react and how they talk. It is scary a little bit but …it has to be done, I believe it really. People need to talk because they are holding all this pain in.

HM: How did co-director Susan Avingaq become involved with the film? Her warm presence in the film seems to help in getting community members to talk more candidly, in my opinion.

MHC: She is the one who shared her concerns with me at first. She was very confused by the different stories she heard about Solomon’s death. She felt a lot of compassion for his family, for his biological mother (he was adopted).

HM: In the documentary, we meet other community members, friends and family of Solomon. What were the main themes, in your opinion, when they shared with you and Susan, their very personal stories?

MHC: They wanted to say that suicide was too prevalent, too common, too normalized. That was the most shoking thing for them. It became clear that everyone was touched by suicide, every one knew someone, of someone else [who had killed him/herself]. They also talked a lot about the role of the whole community to solve the problem.

HM: Besides honouring Solomon’s life, the documentary touches upon the topic of suicide in Nunavut and the North of Canada – a topic often neglected by the rest of Canada. I have read the Nunavut coroner will hold an inquest into Solomon’s jail cell death next month. Any thoughts you’d like to share on this development?

MHC: It was too long to have this inquest, too long a wait; there will be tensions, there will be sorrows and a feeling of having been disrespected. At the same time, there might be a feeling of closure; I hope so. But this wait was really, really too long. (more than 2 years). If it was not that complicated a situation , why wait so long? People will be suspicious. The justice system might not seem worth of the family’s trust.

HM: Outside of the festival circuit, and educational screenings, how can more people see this film?

MHC: [People] will be able to see it on SuperChannel in 2015.

This documentary may be about Solomon. But it deals with topics and problems present in Canadian society that many have turned a blind eye on. I encourage you to attend its premiere screening at imagineNATIVE tomorrow, Friday, October 24th – 5:30pm, at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

For my picks of what else to see and check out at imagineNATIVE, click here.