N.W.T. government won't pay for services at Yellowknife homeless encampment

CBC News

· Posted: Jun 24, 2025 4:17 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

The N.W.T.'s lodging curate says the territory won't wage for washrooms, h2o and occurrence retardant tents astatine a homeless encampment successful Yellowknife, and is encouraging those surviving determination to usage the city's time structure instead. 

The encampment, located adjacent the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, has been location to 15 to 20 radical for astir a month. On June 9, Yellowknife metropolis assembly committed to providing services similar coagulated waste, sewage collection, porta-potties, potable h2o and different necessities — but only if the territorial authorities paid for it.

Housing Minister Lucy Kuptana said based connected the government's experience with the Yellowknife encampment astatine Aspen Apartments past summer, it decided not to enactment the petition for services.

"We recovered that it was hard sometimes, oregon astir times, successful presumption of the cleanup, successful presumption of the exigency response, municipal enforcement issues and besides astir liability," she said.

"If we proceed to enactment an encampment and thing happens wrong that encampment, is the authorities liable?" 

Instead, Kuptana said, those surviving astatine the encampment should spell to the Yellowknife time structure connected 49 Street, wherever determination are washrooms, discarded disposal facilities and unit connected tract who tin supply support. 

Kuptana said she besides encourages stateless people to campy successful a mode that's dispersed passim the city, alternatively than unneurotic astatine an encampment. 

"It's easier to negociate for the radical camping," she said. "Once you get into radical camping, it's overmuch much difficult. There's overmuch much waste, noise."

She said the territory volition proceed to pass with the encampment's lawyer and with partners similar the Salvation Army and the City of Yellowknife if the encampment continues to grow. In the longer term, she said, the territory is readying to unfastened its caller transitional lodging tract successful Yellowknife, the 1 adjacent the Folk connected the Rocks site, successful September. 

That installation volition person 25 beds. She said it's portion of a larger strategy to accommodate the needs of much N.W.T. residents.