Eviction order for Whatì tenant over drugs, threats and debt

A Whatì public housing tenant can be evicted over thousands of dollars in arrears and a succession of police visits to the property, a rental officer has ruled.

In the July decision, made public this month, rental officer Jerry Vanhantsaeme said the tenant – whose name was not given – owed $3,570.

Most of this was subsidized rent of $75 left unpaid for months, though the sum included one month of full unsubsidized rent at $1,545. (Eligibility for subsidized rent can lapse if income is not promptly reported to the CRA.)

Housing NWT also alleged a series of disturbances between February and May this year had required police intervention.

According to evidence presented at a hearing, police attended in early February to “remove two individuals engaged in illegal activities,” again in April over a “report of two drug dealers fighting” and twice in two days at the start of May – once because of “continued traffic” to the property through the night, and again when police arrested someone at the unit “in possession of drug paraphernalia,” a person alleged by a Housing NWT staff member to have also “threatened a person with a bat.”

By the end of May, the hearing was told, police had been called four more times – including for a reported assault.

Housing association staff attending the hearing said they did not believe the tenant had faced any charges related to those incidents, but “guests had been found with illegal drugs and a firearm.” The tenant was separately arrested after reports that they had broken windows in an adjacent unit in July, staff added.

Vanhantsaeme concluded the record showed “illegal activities being committed in the rental premises, repeated and unreasonable disturbances for which the respondent is responsible, and the accumulation of rental arrears.”

“I am satisfied that termination of the tenancy and eviction are justified,” he stated.

The precise circumstances of the tenant are not documented in the written record.

‘Seven evictions in one day’

Police and government officials have warned lately that some drug dealers are taking advantage of NWT tenants by moving into the homes of vulnerable people and using those properties as a base of operations.

The extent to which that was the case here is not clear. However, this case does correlate with what the territorial government has described as a broader attempt to use evictions to target crime.

Premier RJ Simpson has said his government will push to introduce legislation that allows action to be taken against properties being used by dealers, shutting them down using civil courts instead of the extra time and higher standard of proof required in a criminal prosecution.

“I know there’s lots of concern about drug houses,” Simpson told the Dehcho Annual Assembly earlier this month.

“I was talking to someone today. They said they live next to a crack house, a crack dealer, and it’s just a nightmare – and there are not a lot of opportunities, not a lot of ways to address that right now.”

Simpson said evictions will be increasingly used to address drug dealing, and said seven evictions in one day had recently been ordered in Hay River – “seven drug houses essentially shut down in one day,” as he described it.

“If it’s a housing unit there are ways to issue evictions, and we’ve seen that happen this government, which has been a change,” he said.

“But if you are not in a housing unit, it’s tough to issue an eviction, or if it’s a private unit.”

Using so-called Scan legislation – standing for Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods – the territorial government would be able to pursue through civil courts the owners or occupants of homes where drugs are believed to be manufactured, used or sold. Courts could then issue orders that have the effect of shutting down drug houses, regardless of whether someone is a public housing tenant or otherwise.

Simpson has previously advocated for this approach, and promised to explore it during last fall’s election campaign.

This month, he told the Dehcho Assembly he hopes to add civil forfeiture legislation that would make it easier for police to confiscate the suspected cash proceeds of crime, while a new RCMP crime reduction unit will take on extra responsibility for longer-term investigations, rather than local officers having to choose between investigating dealers and planning raids or their regular patrols and day-to-day operations.

Meanwhile, police said last week a man accused of “hiding unlawfully in an Elder’s residence” in Fort Resolution had been sentenced for numerous drug-related and other offences.

Abel Leule, an Alberta resident, was sentenced to 19 months in custody and three years’ probation “with a condition to remain outside of the Northwest Territories,” RCMP stated.

“Fort Resolution RCMP would like to express their thanks to members of the public that provided information leading to the arrest and ultimately the conviction of Leule, sending a clear message that drug dealers are not welcome in the community,” RCMP. stated.

“The general public is the best source of information police have in combatting drug trafficking and most other offences. If you see suspicious activity, contact your local detachment or Crime Stoppers.”