YELLOWKNIFE - Many of the posters put up by artists, charities and other organizations to advertise upcoming events have been taken down over the past two weeks and some members of the arts community are unhappy with the way the city has been dealing with the issue.

Daron Letts rips down a poster he put up. Letts suggested that people could help solve the litter problem by helping each other out and taking down others' posters that are outdated. - Laura Power/NNSL photo

Doug Gillard, manager of municipal enforcement for the city, said the posters that were removed had been placed on city property. These include posters taped to poles or in areas which are not designated for advertising.

"These posters get up and don't end up getting taken down and end up as an eyesore or a litter problem," he said.

Even though posters are sometimes removed, he said the poles are left damaged.

"The poster might get taken down but a lot of the tape gets left," he said.

Daron Letts, owner of Squatterz Books & Curiosities and an active member of the arts community, was putting posters up around town a couple of weeks ago when he was told by a bylaw officer he was not supposed to do so. This concerned Letts, who said posters are a common means of advertising for a number of artists, and that the city should work towards finding a way to permit posters in a way that works for everyone.

One alternative solution is the possibility of bringing to Yellowknife the same sort of infrastructure for poster advertising that Ottawa is using. As explained by Letts, the City of Ottawa provides "skirts" around designated poles which can be used for posters. Bylaw has time restrictions in place to ensure posters are not there for too long as well as poster size restrictions.

"The city is paying its employees to walk around downtown and rip down posters," he said, and suggested they take that money and use it towards putting these "skirts" around town.

Gillard said while such a solution would fix the problem with damage to poles, city employees would still have to monitor the situation.

"I guess we'd still be out there following up and making sure people removed the posters once their event is done," he said.

Stephen Pretty, past president of Recording Arts Association of the Northwest Territories (RAANT), said "postering is the best way we have to promote ourselves outside the community." He said while other effective means of advertising such as online groups are good for spreading word through the arts community, tourists are more likely to come across an event listing on a poster downtown.

"Any effort to limit our ability to put posters up is going to have a negative impact on artists I think," he said.

Letts suggested that people who use posters could help each other out, all the while helping solve the litter problem by taking down other artists' posters once they are outdated.

There are a few three-sided boards in the downtown area which are designated for those wishing to advertise with posters, but none in the residential areas of town. One side of each of these boards displays information and people are free to use the other two sides.

"In two cases, one of the two postering surfaces faces a busy street with maybe only a foot or two for space," said Letts of the designated boards. He said this could cause a problem for those in wheelchairs who do not have enough space to get out in front of the boards.

Letts also made mention of article 19 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states "everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

He said the City of Yellowknife is going to be hosting a human rights conference this year, and that not allowing people to use this method of communication is "an embarrassing mistake."

"I think that city council has to respect people's right to share information, and one way of doing that is through postering," he said.