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DEH GAH GOT'IE/FORT PROVIDENCE - RCMP Const. Amanda McGillivray can recall the first time she went out on a call in Fort Providence.

"The person who called said they lived on the back street and had this colour house and this colour car," she said. "I just told them to go outside and wave me down.

RCMP Const. Amanda McGillivray and Preston Sabourin, hold the new buffalo signs being put up on all houses in Fort Providence over the next couple weeks. - photo courtesy of Fort Providence RCMP

"It was just really difficult being new and not knowing how to find the house I needed to. I said it had to end."

For the last 14 months, McGillivray has worked on numbering all the houses in Fort Providence. She said each house having a buffalo number - which is what she calls them due to the buffalo-shaped signs the numbers will be on - will benefit everyone, especially people in the community.

The signs will be going up around the hamlet this week.

"Once people learn their house number it'll be great for the security and safety factor," she said.

"Residents in town get just as frustrated when they phone in to the RCMP. They get frustrated with the fact we have to ask more questions than necessary. We want to make it easier for people."

It's not only an issue of security for community members but also for police officers out on calls.

"We might know where we are going, but dispatch might not know," she said. "They want to feel they know where we're going in case something happens. Everyone is going to get a map so they can find their way around the hamlet a lot easier when they're out on a call."

Streets in the hamlet were assigned a letter of the alphabet and then homes were assigned a number.

"It was too hard to do street names because they would all have to be in Slavey. It was just too difficult to do because of the typing issue with our system. It was just easier to give house numbers and street letters."

McGillivray said the hamlet helped out for future planning by telling her where new houses will be going so she could put numbers aside.

The hamlet housing authority is also lending support by helping her make sure the signs are up.

"We want to make sure they go up properly so we don't have to put them up again next year," she said.

Even the youth were on board, building the buffalo signs and painting them.

"Getting the kids involved was so much fun," she said. "The younger kids and I painted them in the summer. Now they're all fighting over which one will go on their house.

"I think it'll be good getting them involved because maybe they won't damage them. At least if the kids see someone damaging a sign they might say something because they put the effort into making them."

McGillivray said she wants it to be an easy transition for people.

"We all have to work together with new members of the community because not everyone knows where everyone lives," she said.

"People move around here so often that this will be a lot easier for organizations in town especially health and social services."