SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Bill Burles is hoping not to endure another year of waiting for hotel clerks to buzz him through while making his near daily commute to Centre Square Mall.

Bill Burles is still waiting for better access to Centre Square Mall after owners of the mall's upper level erected a glass partition between the mall and the Yellowknife Inn earlier this year. - Mike W. Bryant/NNSL photo

The wheelchair-bound resident was peeved after the owner of Yellowknife Inn and the upper level of the mall erected a locked glass partition separating the two at the start of the year.

The partition cuts off easy access to a wheelchair ramp at the Yellowknife Inn entrance to the mall on 49 Street. To get through to the mall, Burles must ask staff at the inn to buzz him through the door in the partition.

"They don't seem to have a problem with it, but when I go through there when a plane has arrived with all those people trying to check in, then I'm left standing so to speak," said Burles.

Last March, Yellowknife Inn general manager Derek Carmody said his plan was to have a wheelchair ramp built at the Franklin Avenue entrance to the mall this summer.

Carmody said he is still waiting to hear back from a contractor to do the job. That entrance is currently inaccessible to wheelchair users due to a foot-high lip between the mall doors and the sidewalk.

"As soon as I get the quote (from the contractor) I can get it going," said Carmody.

"I want it done, obviously, before the snow flies."

NWT fire marshal Stephen Moss said he spoke to Carmody last week. He said he was assured a wheelchair ramp is on the way and that he encouraged "them to hurry."

He said the lack of wheelchair access to the upper level mall, which along with the Yellowknife Inn is owned by Royal Host Hotels and Resorts, is in violation of National Building Code standards.

Building owners who fail to comply with orders issued by the fire marshal can be fined up to $500 a day for each day the order is neglected.

While Moss wants the upper mall owners to get moving on providing better wheelchair access, he said he hasn't issued a drop-dead date yet.

"Those kind of things would be based on whether or not we see them working towards complying," said Moss.

"If they're doesn't appear to be any efforts made towards it, the date would come very quickly."

The wheelchair ramp at the upper level still won't solve Burles' problem of accessing the lower mall from the upper level, however. The two levels, each with different owners, are split by a staircase, which means wheelchair users must exit the building if they want to go from one level to another.

"That really bugs me," said Burles.