For the Savikataaq/Copland family 🩷
This story may stir grief, anger, or memories of injustice. Please take care of your spirit. Sharing, grieving, and remembering is brave — but so is resting and reaching out when it’s heavy.
Talk4Healing (Inuktut-friendly, for Indigenous women) below:
📝 Author’s Note:
Before publishing this piece, I reached out to Pauline Copland (Kadin’s mom) and asked for her permission to share these words. She read it first. I also asked that she show it to her immediate family before it went live.
Kadin Savikataaq.
Only 20 years old.
An Inuk woman.
A pilot.
A daughter.
A dreamer.
She flew planes. She carried ambition in her bones. She had her whole future ahead of her — and then, she vanished.
Since Kadin’s disappearance, her mother Pauline Copland has done what no mother should ever have to do.
She became the search party.
She became the voice.
She became the evidence-gatherer, the investigator, the one turning over rocks and earth and silence in search of her own child.
Kadin’s mom started a TikTok account — @kadinsmommyjourne — where she shares pieces of her grief, updates about the case, and above all, love. So much love. It pours through the screen in every word, every frame, every caption — even when she has every right to scream in rage.
Because despite the heartbreak, despite the staggering silence from authorities — no meaningful investigation, no public questioning of those last seen with her, not even a clear decision to search — she keeps going.
Almost a year later, a police dog team finally arrived in Arviat to search for Kadin’s remains. But still — nothing.
Nothing, except the relentless love of a mother who refuses to stop.
I’ve been meaning to write about Kadin since I published my very first blog.
She’s been on my mind this entire time.
But how do you write about something so enormous? So sacred?
I didn’t know how — until I saw Pauline’s TikTok video.
It was a photo of a shovel and a rake, with a caption that said:
“Every time I dig deeper into the ground I’m praying that I don’t hit Kadin’s face!!!”
Something in me broke open.
I couldn’t stay silent.
I left this comment — and I meant every single word of it:
"Something in me cracked open.
Bc those tools - the shovel, the rake! They weren’t made for love.
They weren’t meant for hope.
But here you are, turning the land over with both. U should never have had to become a search party. A mother should never know the weight of the earth in this way. Not with fear in every scoop. Not with the silent prayer:
“Please let it not hit my baby’s face I find today.” & still, you keep digging. With love stronger than most can carry. W/ grief louder than most dare to speak. With a courage that calls the rest of us to attention. U are not alone. We are watching. We are listening, even if we’re far, your story is buried in our bones. We will remember Kadin. Not just as a missing name!!! But as a child who should’ve come home. As laughter that should still echo through your doorway. As life, never meant to be a mystery. & we’ll remember u the mother who lifted the land and faced the unthinkable bc ur love refused to disappear.
#JUSTICEFORKADIN"
We don’t need to wait for headlines to call something a tragedy.
We don’t need official reports to tell us when something’s wrong.
We know.
We feel it in the bones of our mothers. In the silence of the land. In the ache of every community that has watched another daughter go missing — and heard only echoes in return.
Kadin deserves justice.
Her family deserves answers.
And we, as Inuit, as women, as people, deserve to remember her name with power — not in whispers.
Kadin Savikataaq.
A pilot. A light. A life that was meant to soar.
And Pauline — her mother — who lifted the land with her own hands, because love gave her no other choice.
We remember.
We will not look away.
Community Support by: Celina Ivvaluajuk (Fb profile in the logo above)
shared this update on Facebook in support of the ongoing search for Kadin:
“Half of the funds will go towards any needs of the ongoing search of Kadin. (Gas, grub, tools, etc.)
Unlimited $20 lines until August 1st, 2025.
I will write down each name in the comments, and how much is sent.
Will leave email in the comments.
Thanks in advance for your support ❤️🩹
#JusticeForKadin
I will leave my email in the comments and update once I’m back in town as I’m heading up the road this morning until 3/4.”
If you’re in a position to help, e-transfers can be sent to:
📧 cissakiark5@gmail.com
📧 E-transfer email:
If you have any information regarding the disappearance or whereabouts of Kadin Savikataaq, please contact the RCMP or Crime Stoppers. You can remain anonymous:
📞 Crime Stoppers (Nunavut):
📞 Arviat RCMP Detachment: