It takes a full day for Alaku Quillialuk to fly from Akulivik, her small hometown in Northern Quebec, to Montreal, where her best friend is recovering in hospital after being stabbed by a teenage relative, who also attacked and killed her boyfriend and 12-year-old son.

As the turboprop plane makes the journey south, it stops at neighbouring villages along the Hudson Bay coast. When Quillialuk gets off the plane for a pit stop, she's embraced by relatives and friends who've heard the news.

The last time we saw each other, he wasn't the same person. — Annie Tukalak , childhood friend of Illutak Anautak

"We forgive easily and we say sorry easily," she says, but adds that, this time, it might be awhile before the community can move on.

In the early morning hours of June 10, after a night of drinking, 19-year-old Illutak Anautak stabbed and killed his uncle Lucassie Anautak, then entered his aunt's home where he stabbed her family as they slept.

His aunt, Eva Anautak, and three of her children survived. But her partner Eli Qinuajuak and her son Putulik did not.

Illutak was later shot and killed by police.

Prohibition has never worked in any society. — Larry Hubert, retired Kativik Regional Police officer

"Everyone is saying they shouldn't have shot him, but they had no choice. It's not the ending anybody wanted," says Larry Hubert, a retired police officer who watched the violent scene unfold in front of his home.

He says Illutak lunged towards officers with a knife, and then made a motion as if to cut his own throat.

Then, Hubert says, he saw the teenager turn around and bolt towards the house where he lived with his grandmother and uncle.

Hubert thinks police likely shot him because they were afraid he would harm his grandmother.

Annie Tukalak, left, pictured in May with Illutak, her childhood friend. She says the last time he visited her Illutak was 'quiet and weird.' (Submitted by Annie Tukalak)

Annie Tukalak, one of the teen's childhood friends, says none of it makes sense.

Illutak "will be remembered by everyone as a nice person. I don't want anyone to forget that," she says.

She says Illutak had a troubled childhood. His mother died after being assaulted by her boyfriend in 2014, and his older brother committed suicide before that. But he volunteered at the youth centre and would often accompany local hockey players to tournaments in neighbouring villages.

Tukalak, who lives nearby in Puvirnituq, says when Illutak visited last month he seemed different.

"The last time we saw each other, he wasn't the same person. He was quiet and weird."

There were 53 alcohol-related assaults in Akulivik over the first three months of 2017, more than double the number for the same period in 2015. (Jaela Bernstien/CBC)

Friends and family members wonder if he was quietly struggling inside, and didn't get the help he needed.

On the plane ride to Montreal, Quillialuk, whose son was best friends with Illutak, says the teen had grown distant in the past few months and started to drink a lot, often ending his nights in a jail cell.

The mayor of Akulivik, Lucassie Alayco, has said the issue with alcohol has been going on for sometime in Nunavik and, after last weekend's attacks, said officials plan to start a more open dialogue about drinking.

Some outside the region have even wondered aloud whether communities like Akulivik should go dry.

But Quillialuk says it's too easy to simply blame everything on alcohol.

"He didn't express his feelings. He kept it all inside like most of us."

Alaku Qullialuk flew to Montreal on Thursday to comfort her best friend and relative, Eva Anautak, who was wounded in the attack. Anautak's partner and one of her children were killed. (Jaela Bernstien/CBC)

Prohibition not a solution, ex-cop says

Alcohol-related assaults are on the rise in Nunavik, according to a three-year comparison by the Kativik Regional Police Force, the body responsible for patrolling northern Quebec.

In Akulivik, a town of roughly 600 people, there were 53 alcohol-related assaults over the first three months of 2017, more than double the number for the same period in 2015.

"It would be so easy to say stop the booze, but prohibition has never worked in any society," says Hubert, the neighbour, who was a Kativik police officer for 17 years.

Data provided by the Kativik Regional Police Force suggests total alcohol-related assaults have increased in Nunavik over the past three years, when comparing incidents between January and the end of March. (Kativik Regional Police Force)

"You go down Ste-Catherine Street [in Montreal] at three in the morning and … you see the same things."

He says too many tragedies like the one he witnessed last weekend were the reason he left the force.

"I couldn't take it anymore," he says.

While the rise in alcohol-related assaults has raised questions about going dry, residents of Akulivik say it's better to change people's mindsets than impose prohibition. (Jaela Bernstien/CBC)

Cultural divides create barriers

Quillialuk says there are no easy solutions to what her community and the rest of Nunavik seem to be experiencing.

But, she added, part of the problem is that when people like Illutak suffer loss, getting access to quality psychological support is a challenge.

[The social workers] treat us like immigrants. — Alaku Quillialuk

While there is usually at least one social worker stationed in Akulivik, according to Quillialuk, they usually don't last longer than a month before they're replaced.

"It's frustrating always explaining the same thing to a different person when you need help," she says.

"I don't trust them because they're always changing."

She points to added barriers created by linguistic and cultural divides between counselors from the south, and the Inuit population they're meant to help.

"All the social workers are French or English. They treat us like immigrants," she says.

We are resilient, but we need to express our feelings. — Alaku Quillialuk, relative and close friend of victims

"We're different from them. They don't understand our culture."

The Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services could not be immediately reached for comment.

Quillialuk thinks Inuit communities need to do a better job of dealing with loss and trauma.

But to do that, she says they need help.

"We are resilient, but we need to express our feelings. We need to learn how and we all should know that emotions are normal."