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Yellowknife (July 06/01) - The flip-side of the thriving economy in Yellowknife is unravelling into sleeping bags and tent pegs and a new population of working-class homeless who have little choice but to camp out at Fred Henne Park.
 Vincent Hanniliaq and Ron Whalen at home at Fred Henne Park. - Dawn Ostrem/NNSL photo |
While the weather is warm, several employed Yellowknifers are taking advantage of it and are taking up shelter at Fred Henne Park.
"This was my plan if I could not find a place," said Ron Whalen, who works at the Salvation Army for $11 per hour. "It's very hard to find a place if you are not making a lot of money."
Whalen's tentmate, Vincent Hanniliaq, works at the Gold Range Cafe for $7.50 per hour and said without the current quarters he would be forced to ask relatives to take him in.
Even though the two are managing by cooking over a fire pit and washing dishes in plastic basins in a forested alcove, they are not necessarily out of the woods.
The Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development has put a 14-day limit on stays in territorial parks because of overflow.
"People who tend to use the place on the long term are taking spaces," said park services co-ordinator Gary Tees.
"But they are having a hard time because housing is hard to find in town ... for the most part people stay until they can find a place."
Whalen and Hanniliaq were shuffled to the tent site from a spot holding higher demand over the long weekend because their time was up.
They are currently awaiting a review in order to stay longer and are already going on week 3.
In order to stay the pair have offered to pick up garbage in the area and started to do so June 4.
"Some are really in a hard spot," Tees said, sympathetic to their situations.
"One guy ended up moving his camper into somebody's yard."
Right now the full campground is split 50-50 between tourists and locals, some of whom set up camps to visit throughout the summer.
"Word gets around," Tees added. "Some of the tourists have been parking down in Old Town by the water."
Dave McCann of Mackenzie Management, which owns several apartment buildings, said none of his 167 units have been available in months.
"We don't have the units," he said. "From our indication the (vacancy rate) is zero."
Meanwhile Whalen continues to bike to work and keep up with his camp chores.
"I haven't seen any families out here yet," he said of the homeless in the park.
"But I know in the other tent area there is this guy that is working and making really good money."
Park life
The 14-day stay limit is an understanding between park staff and guests when campgrounds run into overflow situations.
Fed Henne Park added 20 new sites last year and currently offers a total of 104.
The Reid Lake and Prelude Lake territorial parks are also filled on the weekends but there is not a community of homeless living in them because they are further from town, Tees said.
Politely written letters were handed to long-term campers at Fred Henne Park before the July long-weekend by park staff asking them to find employment and leave the grounds as soon as possible, Whalen said.
Tees fields requests for extensions on a daily basis.
Costs
The rental costs of bachelor to three-bedroom apartments range from about $600 to about $1,200 per month currently.
The cost for a campsite is $10 per day.
