YK municipal enforcement wants to prioritize unsightly land, encampments

Municipal officers in Yellowknife have increased their presence in the city’s downtown and enforcement of pedestrian and intersection safety in school zones. That’s something they hope to continue over the next year.

Brennan Osburn, the city’s manager of municipal enforcement, provided an update to councillors last week on progress the division has made on those two priorities, which were approved by council in June 2025.

According to Osburn, municipal enforcement officers conducted 336 downtown foot patrols in 2025/26, up from 57 in 2024/25. He said officers also reported 425 occurrences of school zone enforcement in 2025/26 compared to 203 the previous year.

“Overall, I think the division has a good story to tell on how we handled the priorities set by council last year,” he said.

Osburn said he would like to see councillors approve downtown presence and enforcement in school zones as continuing priorities for his division in 2026/27.

He also recommended that council add two new priorities:

• taking a proactive and balanced enforcement approach to unsightly lands; and
• executing a rights-based, collaborative, multi-agency response strategy to encampments with a regard for public safety and community wellbeing.

‘A wide net of responsibilities’

Mayor and council set priorities for the city’s municipal enforcement division every year to direct where its limited resources should be focused.

Beyond those priorities and taking a proactive approach to addressing public safety issues, the city said enforcement of most of its bylaws is based on complaints from residents.

In total, Osburn said enforcement officers reported 3,614 enforcement occurrences over the past year compared to 2,641 the previous year.

Councillors present at Wednesday’s meeting were largely supportive of the four priorities proposed by Osburn for 2026/27. They are expected to vote on the matter at a future meeting.

Ryan Fequet said it has been “really nice” seeing municipal officers in the downtown core and school zones.

“I hope residents of our community appreciate that you guys have a wide net of responsibilities,” he added.

Councillors called for more proactive enforcement of the city’s unsightly lands bylaw, particularly in and around encampments, during a previous discussion at City Hall earlier this month.

Two councillors described the issue as “disgusting,” including Rob Warburton who suggested that the city start issuing the NWT government fines if it does not clean up garbage on commissioner’s land. Under the bylaw, individuals can be fined up to $2,000 and corporations up to $10,000 for violations.

The city said it has been working with the territorial government to address violations of the unsightly land bylaw on commissioner’s land. It said municipal enforcement officers have also been visiting and monitoring encampments to address any public safety issues and cleaning up any encampments that have been abandoned on municipal land.

The NWT government told Cabin Radio it coordinates cleanups on commissioner’s land throughout the year and hires Commercial NDS to help. It said several cleanups were completed ahead of the spring melt and additional cleanups will take place as needed.

Housing NWT said encampments are monitored to determine whether they have been abandoned and if there is ongoing activity, personal belongings are not removed. It said outreach teams work with people ahead of time to ensure they are aware of planned cleanups and can identify belongings they want to keep.

Advocate calls for government support

Yellowknife councillors approved a resolution last June stating the city would provide solid waste and sewage collection services for encampments, but only if requested and paid for by the NWT government.

Peter Adourian, a lawyer who has been representing residents of an encampment near the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in discussions with both levels of government, said he hopes the city can come up with solutions beyond just pressuring the GNWT that work for homeless people and other residents of Yellowknife.

Adourian said he lobbied for the encampment to be able to use a garbage bin outside of the museum and has been paying for a portable toilet. He said residents of other encampments in the city may be stuck without a place to dispose of garbage and to use the washroom when the day shelter is closed.

“The responsibility of keeping the city clean, apparently, is on the rest of the community and not on the government,” he said of his view on the governments’ response. “I’d like to see that change immediately.”

Adourian said he wants the government to provide porta potties and garbage bins with regular pickup for all encampments as well as access to potable water.

He called on residents to “have grace” for people that are experiencing homelessness saying they are dealing with a lot and solutions need to come from government.

“Don’t blame the homeless, look to the government,” he said.

Housing NWT told Cabin Radio that while it recognizes not everyone may want to stay at shelters, that is where it focuses its efforts as it does “not have the resources to provide additional services to encampments when there are shelter beds available.”

While the GNWT initially rejected requests to provide fire extinguishers to encampment residents, Housing NWT said it determined last fall that fire protection packages “would be accessible to encampment individuals under the Homelessness Assistance Fund.” The GNWT said it has distributed five kits so far.

More broadly, Adourian said he’d like to see the GNWT have a “bolder vision” to address housing issues. He said emergency shelters are “a completely inadequate solution” to a problem caused by a lack of long-term housing.

“Even if every person living in an encampment wanted to use the shelters, there would not be enough space,” he said.

“The number one thing I’ve been saying in all of my correspondence with both the city and GNWT is, first and foremost, get these people housed. It’s only if you can’t get them housed that I’m asking for them to address the basic needs of people living in encampments.”

According to Housing NWT, between the sobering centre, the Salvation Army’s men’s shelter and the women’s shelter, there are a total of 103 shelter beds available in Yellowknife at night. It said the average daily occupancy rate for shelters in the city was 80 percent in March, 60 percent in April and 50 percent in May so far.

Yellowknife’s 2024 point-in-time homeless count documented 327 people experiencing homelessness in October 2024, including 34 unsheltered people.

 Advocates have said the reasons why people may choose not to stay at emergency shelters can be complex, including being banned, wanting more freedom, a lack of storage for belongings, and not wanting to be separated from a partner at night.