NWT lacks evictions data as Scan legislation advances

MLAs are questioning whether the NWT has enough information about its own eviction system to build new public safety laws on top of it.

The territory’s justice department does not track how many evictions it carries out, nor the cost of enforcing them or number of sheriff officers trained to do the work, spokesperson Ngan Trinh told Cabin Radio.

The territorial government is advancing Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (Scan) legislation, which would rely on the existing eviction process to shut down properties linked to illegal activity. A review of the Residential Tenancies Act is also under way.

Speaking in the legislature earlier this month, Great Slave MLA Kate Reid asked if the department would consider collecting more data on evictions given that new legislation is on the horizon.

“I am a big supporter of having that data type of collection as part of our processes to ensure we can actually see those things, trends over time,” justice minister Jay Macdonald said in response.

“I think that’s a little, perhaps, deep into the workflow of the proposed bills that are coming forward to be able to give a real, true comment on that at this time.”

In an interview with Cabin Radio, Yellowknife North MLA Shauna Morgan said scarce data collection is not unusual in the NWT, but the territory needs the tools to “look carefully” at how it currently processes evictions, where the bottlenecks are, and the resources afforded to the rental office and sheriff’s office.

“We’re going to need to think through the role of all of these agencies if we want to change the status quo,” she said.

In addition to the absence of data, the Department of Justice was unable to describe or provide a policy that governs how eviction enforcements are handled on the ground.

“Each eviction is unique and is assessed on a case-by-case basis,” Trinh said.

“Evictions are consistently evolving, and officers continually conduct assessments before, during and after the eviction.”

All officers based in Yellowknife

Behind the data gap are practical concerns about how evictions are enforced across the territory.

Sheriff officers – the only people in the NWT who can carry out an eviction – are all based in Yellowknife, meaning they must sometimes travel vast distances to enforce orders in other communities.

The work is coordinated based on the mutual availability of the officers and the landlord, Trinh said, and is often done alongside other assignments such as providing security for the circuit court, serving documents or carrying out seizures.

Once a landlord obtains an eviction order through the rental office, they have six months to file it with the NWT Supreme Court to obtain a writ of possession – typically because a tenant has not already left. The writ is then filed with the sheriff’s office, which coordinates with the landlord to ensure tenants leave.

Speaking as MLA for Hay River South in a January interview with Cabin Radio, Vince McKay – who is also the territory’s communities minister – said some constituents told him they had waited “weeks and weeks” for evictions to be enforced.

“These are things that could be done more smoothly and swiftly if there were positions in Hay River for that,” McKay said.

Trinh said the sheriff’s office strives to carry out evictions “in a timely manner.”

“This timeline is dependent on staff resources, the availability of the RCMP (if needed, to keep the peace) and the availability of the landlord, among other factors,” she stated by email.

Hay River once had a sheriff

In the legislature, Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart said there was once a sheriff officer based in Hay River. Testart himself served as a deputy sheriff from 2009 to 2014.

“It was a great benefit to the community when that position was there,” Testart said.

Macdonald said that position had since been relocated to Yellowknife.

“The challenge with having one position in Hay River was that the sheriff that was based alone was unable to fulfill some of his duties because he was a single resource,” Macdonald said.

Testart asked if it might be possible to place a second officer in the community.

“We have the opportunity to help expedite some of these processes with a simple personnel and resourcing change. It seems prudent to do so,” Testart said.

Macdonald said the position was relocated because there was not enough work a full-time officer could do on their own.