With another homeless encampment established in Yellowknife this summer, there can be some confusion over which level of government has the most responsibility for it.
The encampment sits in downtown Yellowknife on a GNWT-owned parking lot off the alleyway between 49 and 50 streets and both the municipal and territorial governments have committed to providing some forms of assistance to its residents.
Mayor Ben Hendriksen previously said the city has a responsibility to public health and safety and, as such, would provide services like solid waste and cleanup support to the encampment.
Erin Kelly, president and CEO of Housing NWT, told SA国际影视传媒 earlier this week that GNWT staff have spoken to the first person who set up at this location and offered help with moving to a safer location.
She added that GNWT staff continue to speak with everyone there, offering them shelter space and suggesting other safer locations.
That said, Hendriksen gave two words to describe how much power the city has in tackling challenges like this: very little.
"The city's space around housing and homelessness is extremely minimal," said Hendriksen. "It is about land availability for housing to be built, but not by the city."
In the long run, Hendriksen said the city does have a role in getting land to market, which is a collaborative effort with the GNWT, to move Commissioner's land to city land.
But that also comes with surveying the land before getting it market, which then allows for housing to get built, he added
The city's also involved in some more direct projects, including a street outreach van service, which offers safe rides, food and water to more vulnerable populations in the city. It's operated by Home Base Yellowknife, who have the contract from the city to provide that service, Hendriksen explained.
But, he added, the only reason the municipality can afford that contract is thanks to money from the federal government through its Reaching Home program.
More direct examples, like building a new sobering centre downtown, or adding public housing units, are the territorial government's responsibility.
Peter Adourian, a lawyer representing some of the encampment residents, said his clients want a sense of security that they won't be asked to take their tents down.
"I'm working with the city and GNWT collaboratively to find that space, one or two parcels of land where they can do this, and then hopefully once we've decided on the place, we can start talking about what kind of services they can expect to receive," he said.
Should the encampment move onto another lot, Adourian said he's indifferent as to who owns it.
What matters, he said, is that both levels of government agree on a place with enough space for tents and is accessible by vehicles so emergency responders can access it.
It's also important that there's no deadline attached to the new place for when people have to move out, he added.
That happened with last summer's homeless encampment and virtually no one followed the territory's deadline, given that those homeless people had no place to go, Adourian noted.
Adourian said that his discussions with both the city and GNWT have been extremely productive.
"I think that both the city and the GNWT genuinely give a damn about homelessness, homeless people, and of course, the culture of homelessness that can affect people who are just trying to live and work downtown," he said. "I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with. Once I take it back to my clients, I'm hoping that we can ease some of the burden on downtown businesses and residents."
The GNWT does have far more jurisdiction on the issue of homelessness, but the city does have some role to play still, Adourian said.
"Homelessness affects virtually every aspect of a city jurisdiction, including things like the cleanliness of the downtown area," he explained, adding that zoning and quality of life are two things that homelessness also impacts the city with. "These things are all intermixed with each other, and that's why from my perspective, I want the city, the GNWT, and the encampment to work together because I don't want there to be any jurisdictional barriers to getting results."