by Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jan 09/98) - Heather and Greg Smith have to leave town and they're mad as hell about it.

Because Greg was laid off by Con Mine last month, their family has to pack up all of their possessions, load them into a pickup truck and a small moving van and head out.

It might not sound like such a big deal but with five daughters, aged two through 15, to consider, it won't be easy.

"The fact is my family moved here to go through this hardship and it was quite the weight moving the family here. It means relocating schools, losing friends. Our kids are devastated," says Greg, a veteran underground miner.

"My family is priority No. 1 and we're facing real hardships here paying bills."

Greg and Heather approached Yellowknifer last week in an attempt to seek understanding from local utility companies.

"We're here because we want to write a compassionate letter to the utility companies. We want the landlords and everybody else to have some compassion for these 92 families," said Greg.

The Smiths were originally lured to Yellowknife by the promise of work at Con Mine and a $5,000 forgivable loan.

Less than six months later, the money and the work are gone and they have to use every last cent to move back to Ontario.

"What we want from the utility companies and the landlords is for them to have some compassion for us. We're not trying to burn them but we need money to get out of here because we can't afford to stay here.

"We need this money to move and we don't want to hurt anybody," said Greg.

"This isn't just us. Ninety-two families were affected by this and some of them have mortgages to worry about."

While many of the utility companies are bound by legislation that requires full payment of services rendered, they are willing to negotiate.

City administrator Doug Lagore said he will listen to the out-of-work Con Mine employees who approach the city regarding their water bills.

"We don't have any requests so far and I don't know how we'd give them a break, but if they were in large arrears, we'd be prepared to talk to them," said Lagore.

Anne Grainger of NorthwesTel said the phone company is also bound by law to collect full payment from all customers.

"Under the CRTC, we're not allowed to write off long-distances charges, but we have some flexible payment options. It will be dealt with on a customer-by-customer basis and we'll work out a payment plan," said Grainger, the director of corporate communications for NorthwesTel.

Heather Smith approached Northland Utilities and was successful in setting up a payment schedule for their electricity bill. "I phoned and they were quite willing to set up a payment plan. The woman I spoke to, her husband was laid off too, so she was very compassionate with our situation," she said.

The manager of customer services for Northland added that the hydro-power distribution company is willing to offer further assistance.

"If there's a committee of some kind in town to help the miners, we'd be happy to get involved," said Firmin Gaudet.

Greg is worried that his credit rating might be negatively affecting his difficulty in paying his bills, but his main concern is his wife and children.

"The family unit will survive and the love will be there but the lifestyle is gone."