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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A homeless couple say they want justice after their possessions were removed by bylaw officers from a squatters' tent and taken to the dump.

Until recently, that outdoor home of Mary Thrasher and her common-law partner Charlie Coy was a tent in the area behind the Explorer Hotel.

Mary Thrasher and partner Charlie Coy with their baby carriage full of the only possessions they have after their tent was confiscated and taken to the dump. - Lauren McKeon/NNSL photo

Now, Thrasher and Coy have filled a baby carriage with items cobbled together after their tent and everything in it was confiscated and taken to the dump.

"I used to be homeless," Thrasher said. "Then I got a camp. Now I'm even more homeless."

Unfortunately, that "camp" wasn't on open land. Thrasher had only been on the site for a few weeks when she received a notice from the city last week asking her to leave. Two other camps had joined Thrasher's and the city was receiving complaints about noise and garbage levels.

It's a multi-faceted situation, said city councillor Lydia Bardak, who is also co-ordinator of community justice with the John Howard Society. "I can't lay fault anywhere. The city did need to respond from complaints from citizens," she said.

However, she wishes things had been handled differently. "It's unfortunate that Mary is receiving the brunt of it."

Thrasher was in the hospital when her belongings were removed from her camp. It was another turn of bad luck for Thrasher, whose tent near Tommy Forrest Ballpark burned down last year.

Set to stay in the hospital for a week after a previously-scheduled blood transfusion, Thrasher left after three days. She was anxious about her belongings and unable to arrange for anybody with a truck to cart her stuff to safety.

Thrasher did not get back in time. Gone were Thrasher's newly donated items, some still in their packaging: pillows, comforters, carpet, tarps and - perhaps most importantly - a healthy supply of food.

"For a lot of people who have a warm bed and a roof over their heads (it) might look like just a pile of junk, but it was all of (Mary's) earthly possessions," said Bardak.

"It would be the equivalent of a catastrophic house fire for ordinary people," she added.

Coy and Thrasher see it much the same way.

"It's home invasion," said Coy, who, like Thrasher, said he chooses the outdoor lifestyle after a lifetime of working.

"He's tired," explained Thrasher, her soft, watery eyes on Coy.

Bardak said she contacted municipal enforcement as soon as she heard about the clear out but was told Thrasher's things had been taken directly to the dump. In the future, Bardak has asked that any seized items be taken to the various homeless societies around the city - where they can be easily accessed by those who most need them.

"(The City) was treating it as an unclean property, just treating it as garbage dumped in the woods," said Bardak.

"Somebody is going to scoop it at the dump but let the people who need it get a chance at it first," she added.

Doug Gillard, manager of municipal enforcement, confirmed the couple's possessions were removed and taken to the dump. He said in light of the most recent incident, bylaw officers will be more careful about possessions found in homeless camps in the future.

"In the past we have held onto stuff only for it never to be claimed," said Gillard.

"The plan in the future is to bag the stuff and hold onto it for a period of time. If nobody claims it then it will be removed."

Ideally, Thrasher is hoping to return home to Inuvik with Coy, where she can live in the bush. The two do not like staying away from each other; because of gender restrictions they cannot stay in the same shelter.

Barring that, however, the two are hoping someone will donate a tent to them.

"It made me so mad," Thrasher said, "to go back to nothing."