Scott Crabbe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 21/00) - Delayed income support payments for the month of January left some families in Yellowknife hungry, cold and concerned over where their next meal was coming from.

Heather Dolan, her husband, David King, and their six children spent a week going back and forth from the food bank to the income support offices looking for sustenance and answers.

"Our appointment was on Thursday January the 6th," Dolan said.

"(Then) they told us we would have to wait two days, but then two turned into four. No one would return my messages, and when I did talk to someone, all they told me was the computer was down."

Dolan said if it wasn't for the Yellowknife food bank, they wouldn't have made it.

According to the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, the system the income support computers were running off us wasn't Y2K compliant.

"Systems were replaced and pilots were running as of November, but a problem with the migration (entering new information into the system) corrupted data on December 30 and 31," said Leslie Allen, an assistant deputy minister for the department.

The Dolans' file, along with other clients that were in the original system, were temporarily misplaced when the system went down.

Cheques to clients already on an income support payroll (approximately half of all welfare recipients) were mailed out on December 21. However, new clients and clients who's cases were under review were mailed hand-written cheques.

"The problem was cleared up in the first and second week of January," Allen said.

"All the remaining cheques should have reached everyone by now."

Employees at organizations such as the Canada NWT Service Centre worked around the clock and through the holidays to make everything as smooth as possible.

"Some people took time off before the holidays and then worked straight through until the new year," said Allen.

"All clients were phoned and offered courier service, local organizations were also very helpful in getting food and other services out to clients."

Dolan and her husband turned to income support in December following a move from Fort Resolution.

King worked as a heavy equipment officer through the spring, summer and fall.

Running on empty

"When winter comes, we just don't have enough money to feed six kids."

The Dolans' dilemma wasn't just over food.

Through income support, the Dolans' cheque covers rent and utilities, plus gives them $807 a month for food and $120 for clothing. When they didn't receive their support, they also didn't have the money for heating fuel.

"I arranged with our landlord to have $40 worth of fuel put into the tank," Dolan said.

"If I didn't turn to my landlord, where would I go? I can't just pack up six kids and a husband and move into someone else's place."

Organizations such as the Yellowknife Food bank experienced first-hand the results of the delayed income.

"(Supplies) are getting pretty thin," Pat Martin, volunteer co-ordinator for the food bank, said.

"The annual food drive at the local Subway restaurant brought in three to four times more donations than last year.

"The Co-op drive had the same results, but more and more people have been calling in needing food, because they can't afford to buy any," Martin said.

Food bank chairperson Marlo Bullock has seen the difference a few day's can make.

"It's distressing to be hungry, it's distressing to not have money, it's distressing to not know when your money is going to be here," Bullock said.

"People are calling at a greater rate outside of the regular hours. We're just trying to keep up with their needs, but it's very tiring."

While support services aren't anticipating further complications, they are prepared should similar complications occur.

"There is a contingency plan in place," Allen said.

"The system was put into place at the best possible time (installation began in October). There's always going to be problems when running a new system."