Encampment, residents and GNWT ‘have to get along’

Karl Gardlund says living in a new encampment in downtown Yellowknife allows him to stay out of the rain and close to food.

“I don’t like to be around much people and I kind-of like my own privacy so I built this,” he said.

Gardlund said he does not have permanent housing as he was evicted from his home last summer and subsequently from a Housing First program earlier this year.

He said six to 10 people stay at the encampment, which is currently one structure in the parking lot behind the liquor store.

Peter Adourian, a lawyer representing residents of the encampment, said he has met with the NWT and city governments on their behalf.

“Ultimately, what they’re hoping for is to just get some degree of certainty from the city and GNWT on a location where they can set up their tents and will not have to move for the rest of the season,” he said.

“In other words, they want to be in some place that is not inconvenient to the city or the GNWT, and certainly any of the residents of the city.”

A previous encampment set up in Yellowknife’s downtown last summer was forced to move from private property several times and faced complaints from some nearby residents.

Adourian said the new encampment is located on commissioner’s land.

“The concerns of the people who live in the encampment are actually not that different from the concerns of the residents who live in homes in Yellowknife,” he said.

“The people who are in the encampment don’t want to be a bother to other people, they don’t want to be a pest. And at present, they don’t really know where to go, where they can safely set up.”

Adourian said NWT government officials working on the file “genuinely care about this issue” and want a solution that works for both housed residents as well as people experiencing homelessness.

“There’s a real opportunity for the government to work with homeless people, as opposed to just for homeless people, and that’s part of the process and outcome that I’m looking for,” he said.

Residents being ‘held hostage,’ MLA says

Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins wants the encampment to move.

In emails sent to ministers last week, Hawkins said he had received complaints about the encampment from some residents and business owners who want the territorial government to take action.

In the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, Hawkins called on the GNWT to remove the encampment from its current location.

Hawkins said nearby residents are being “held hostage by the noise, the intensity, the regularity and the frustration that they can’t sleep and they can’t live healthily.” He accused people living in the encampment of stealing power and described them as “being set up quite nicely.”

Premier RJ Simpson responded that the territorial government does not have the legal authority to remove an encampment nor to direct the RCMP to do so. He said the territory is working with people staying at the encampment, and their legal representation, to find “more suitable” locations for them to stay.

“I get if you are living next to an encampment and there’s late night partying, that would be disruptive,” he said.

“But the fact is that these are people who need a place to stay. I can’t imagine that this was their destination in life, to be in an encampment in an alley, but that’s the situation.”

‘We all have to get along’

In a statement outlining its approach to encampments last week, the NWT government said its response “must be compassionate and respectful” while acknowledging potential concerns.

The GNWT said it is actively working with partners on wraparound supports, including transitional housing, and to identify and address barriers preventing people from accessing available emergency shelter spaces.

Advocates have said those barriers can include the separation of couples, the inability to have pets, searches for drugs and alcohol, and a lack of space to store belongings.

Also in the legislature on Tuesday, Yellowknife North MLA Shauna Morgan described a meeting on homelessness in Yellowknife earlier this month at which participants identified a need for “real-time, individual-level data” on the issue and engagement with people who have lived experience of it.

Simpson said the territory is trying to work closely with non-governmental organizations in Yellowknife to support people experiencing homelessness as well as mitigate any potential negative impacts from encampments.

“We all have to get along and we want to ensure that we’re working to minimize any type of conflict that might occur,” he said.

“That being said, we don’t want to normalize encampments. We can’t just have encampments popping up anywhere in the city year after year. We are still determining how we’re going to get where we need to go, so that everyone is satisfied with the outcome.”