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Homeless broadcaster
NCS learns hard lessons on landlord-tenant relationships by Anne-Marie Jennings
NNSL (Mar 02/98) - While a move is definitely the cards for the Native Communications Society, its ultimate destination remained a mystery only two days before a scheduled eviction.
Last Wednesday, NCS chair J.C. Catholique told News/North an
agreement with Yellowknife Films had been reached to move into its building
-- just a few blocks from its old home, known as the Media Building.
But Alan Booth, owner of Yellowknife Films, said that no
final agreement has been reached with NCS to move into the building.
By Friday morning, while employees packed up equipment and
office supplies, the society's executive director and board were still
looking for a place to set up shop.
In the meantime, staff have been given two weeks off with
pay while the company negotiates a new lease.
The broadcaster, which had been renting space in a downtown
Yellowknife office complex on a month-to-month basis, lost its home when
its landlord, NWT 902800, leased the space to the territorial government.
Catholique said that its radio service, CKLB, which is
broadcast to most Western Arctic communities, has reached an agreement with
a satellite service to run continuous programming until the radio station
is back on the air.
As for the move itself, Catholique said the eviction notice
was a surprise.
"It was a shock," he said. "I didn't think we were going to
get evicted."
"Our lease locked us into an agreement to pay rent for five
years, with the idea that after the lease expired we would pay lower rent,"
he said. "But that didn't happen."
NCS has also had a debt of $711,750 written off recently by
the NWT Development Corporation, a debt that Catholique said they ran up
building a television studio in the Media Building several years ago and
the subsequent failure to generate expected revenue from the studio.
"It was a business deal that went bad," he said.
The experiences of the NCS in the business side of the
venture are not necessarily a question of mismanagement, Catholique said,
but of a lack of knowledge on the part of past members of the board of
directors.
"The board didn't know what they were getting into," he
said. "They were dealing with some pretty shrewd businessmen. If you don't
know the business, you can be misled and used."
Catholique added that this most recent move for the NCS
will not be the last, and the possibility still exists NCS could move out
of Yellowknife.
"NCS has always wanted to have a home of its own," he
explained. "We're still considering a move out of Yellowknife, because we
have always wanted to get closer to the communities.
"We figure that could take as long as a year." |