Iqaluit

Gilles is a French Canadian worker based in Nunavut, while his wife Carmen lives in Montreal and has built a career in marketing. When word reaches her of a head injury, she travels north for the first time to see him. At the hospital, she witnesses his death, and the authorities plan an autopsy since the cause of death is uncertain. Carmen meets with the RCMP and learns that they are not actively investigating Gilles’ death, a realization that complicates her plans to bring him home. Rather than rush to leave Iqaluit with his body, she chooses to stay and try to understand what happened.

During these early days, Carmen meets an Inuk man, Noah, who worked with Gilles and regarded him as a good friend. As she sorts through Gilles’s belongings, she discovers a hidden collection of carvings that hint at another layer to his life in the North. Carmen notices Noah’s family ties—his 20-year-old niece Ani and his grown son Dany—and learns that Gilles had a long-buried affair with Ani. The affair produced a son, Simigaq, though Gilles and Carmen themselves had no children. The revelation is painful, and the narrative notes that the affair ended after the birth of the child, with Gilles providing financial support and even buying Noah’s carvings to help the family.

Seeking guidance and solace, Carmen confides in Noah at a local bar. Noah explains that he adopted Ani to rescue her from an abusive father, a detail that deepens Carmen’s sorrow and anger toward Gilles. He then takes her to a remote fishing site, where a tent is set up and fishing begins in earnest, though Noah confesses he has little knowledge of Inuit hunting customs, a consequence of his own childhood spent in a residential school. As relatives arrive at the site in a panic, they reveal that Dany has abducted Ani and Simigaq and disappeared into the wilderness with a rifle. Wary of involving the RCMP, Noah believes he can reason with Dany, and Carmen decides to accompany him.

The search culminates when they find Dany and Ani. Dany claims he can live off the land and evade the authorities, and Carmen asks him what he did to Gilles. Dany replies that Gilles’ death was an accident, but insists the police would never believe him. As tensions begin to defuse, Carmen speaks with Ani, who witnessed Gilles’s death firsthand. Dany had pressed Gilles for money and then accused him—and other whites—of seducing local women, including Ani. That confrontation escalated into a shove, during which Gilles toppled over a cliff.

With the crisis easing, the group returns to the mainland by two boats. Carmen asks Ani whether Simigaq will ever know about Gilles, and Ani replies that she and everyone in the community will tell Simigaq about Gilles.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 16:00