Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 16/00) - City officials have removed the voters list from its Web site following public complaints about an invasion of privacy.

Director of Corporate Services Tim Mercer said complaints began to surface last week about the voters list appearing on the Internet. The list includes the names and addresses of eligible voters within the city.

"Some people have voiced concerns about 'why would anybody outside of Yellowknife need this information.'

"There are some pretty serious concerns as to why people don't want other people to know where they live," said Mercer.

Those concerns ranged from worries that companies would download the information for telemarketing purposes to unwelcomed visitors obtaining personal addresses.

It was decided the city would not have an enumeration process this year in order to reduce costs and avoid inconveniencing residents.

Instead, the city used the GNWT's voters list from last year's election and then posted it on its Web site, requesting citizens contact city officials if any adjustments were required.

The list was also posted at several locations around the city, including Extra Foods, Northern Fancy Meats, the Yellowknife Public Library, Canadian Tire, Weaver and Devore, Yellowknife Direct Charge Co-op and the Ruth Inch Memorial Pool.

Mercer said the virtual voters list went over very well at first.

At least 200 people e-mailed the city with corrections to their voting information.

But after news of the complaints were broadcast nationally, the list was removed from the Web site on Friday afternoon.

"We didn't have the money to address those problems so we thought that the easiest thing to do was to take it off.

"We have mixed feelings about how we reacted to the concerns, but I guess the bottom line is if people are as passionate enough as they were about this issue then obviously it's a concern that we have to take seriously," said Mercer.