Fort Resolution (Apr 24/06) - The arena in Fort Resolution needs up to a half-million dollars in repairs or it may not re-open next winter.

Deninoo Community Council, which operates Lakeview Arena, closed the facility on March 20.

Tausia Lal, the senior administrative officer with Deninoo Community Council in Fort Resolution, stands outside the closed Lakeview Arena. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Tausia Lal, the council's senior administrative officer, explains there are concerns about fire safety and the building's roof is leaking.

An assistant fire marshal inspected the arena on March 23 at the request of the Department of Public Works.

"We had closed it," Lal says. "If we didn't, he would have closed it."

Fire Marshal Bernie Van Tighem confirms there are fire safety deficiencies in the building. They include burnt-out exit lights, no record of the alarm system being verified, missing monthly inspection stickers on fire extinguishers, and insufficient fire separation walls in storage rooms.

"It was a variety of smaller issues," Van Tighem says.

While the arena is mostly used in the winter, it is occasionally used in the warmer months for ball hockey, rollerblading and skateboarding.

"It can be repaired, but at this point we need a good chunk of funding to do everything that needs to be done, including the roof," Lal says.

The council has estimated the work will cost between $400,000-$500,000.

Lal says the fire safety concerns can be addressed with a reasonable amount of money. "It's the roof that's going to take a lot of money and effort to fix."

The community has decided to spend its $791,000 share from the GNWT's Community Capacity Building Fund on a new youth centre and the arena.

However, Lal says most of the money will go to the youth centre, and the undetermined amount that will remain will not be enough to fix the arena.

Wilfred Simon, the manager of the community's oldtimers hockey team, is concerned it might not re-open by next winter." It's really important to our community," Simon says, noting it keeps young people occupied and out of trouble, and also provides recreation for everyone.

Simon wants to see the arena fixed, but wonders if the work will really cost more than $400,000.

"If it's going to cost that much, it's just as well to build a new one," he says.

Over the last year or so, there has been a community effort to upgrade the arena, such as renovating and building change rooms.

The arena originally came from Pine Point and has been in Fort Resolution since the late 1980s. The arena has no ice-making capability, but operates with natural ice.