Dez Loreen
Northern News Services

Aklavik (Sep 26/05) - Northwestel customers in Aklavik will need to find other ways to pay their phone bills come this October.

Northwestel will close their payment agent at the Aklavik band office at the end of the month, meaning residents will no longer be able to pay by cash.

Phone bills will now have to be paid by mail, credit card, telephone banking or the internet. The band office has been the payment agent for many years.

Residents say they've long grown accustomed to making their payments there and would like that to continue. The band office resigned as agent for Northwestel, leaving the phone company with nobody to take payments. The band office wouldn't offer a reason why they discontinued the service.

A woman, who declined to give her name, said she wouldn't discuss the matter while Chief Charlie Furlong was out of town. Northwestel approached the Aklavik Northern store about taking over the service, but they declined because they're in the midst of renovating the store.

Northwestel can only use certain organizations to house their payment offices, said representative Anne Kennedy.

"In small communities the available types of businesses are limited," she said. "Northern was the only other place."

This announcement has some residents in Aklavik up-in-arms. The needs of the elders should be addressed, said Michelle Gruben.

"What are the elders supposed to do now, if they don't use their bank accounts?" Gruben wondered.

Gruben currently uses the band office but has a back-up plan in place.

"I can just use my telephone banking for my personal use," said Gruben.

For others, using the agent was very convenient. It meant less hassle and more convenience, said Aklavik elder Annie Gordon.

"I had no idea this was happening. It's news to me," said Aklavik elder Annie Gordon.

"I can't understand telephone banking systems, a lot of elders don't know about things like that."

"It's pretty bad, elders need their phones to communicate," added Shawn Gordon.

"What if there was an emergency, and they couldn't call because they could not pay their bill?"