SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The long wait for a wheelchair ramp at the Franklin Avenue entrance to Centre Square Mall will continue for some time yet.

Lucy Natsiapik and her daughter, Christina Williah, step up onto the approximately eight-inch lip of the Franklin Avenue entrance leading into Centre Square Mall on Friday. The NWT fire marshal issued an order last week to have a wheelchair access ramp put in at the Franklin Avenue doors by the end of June. - Andrew Livingstone/NNSL photo

NWT fire marshal Stephen Moss served mall management with an order early last week to provide wheelchair accessibility by June 30, 2010.

But the order might be toothless. Moss admitted that if the mall can't meet the deadline he might have to "revisit" the issue and look at pushing back the date.

"We try to provide a reasonable timeframe, but it also relies heavily on finding a contractor to get the work done," Moss said. "It may end up not being a drop-dead date."

Moss said he thinks he gave mall management ample time to get the ramp completed, but said if contractors hired to complete the project get tied up, then the date might get pushed back.

"We may end up revisiting (the deadline) but I'm confident they can get it done," Moss said.

Access from Franklin Avenue to the upper level of the mall for people in wheelchairs and parents with strollers has been near impossible since construction of the mall was completed in 1990.

The only accessible entrance to the upper level is through the Yellowknife Inn, but when the hotel placed a glass partition at the Mainstreet Cafe entrance early last year, a struggle ensued for people seeking access.

Yellowknife Inn general manager Derek Carmody told Yellowknifer last September he hoped to have the access ramp installed at the Franklin Avenue mall entrance "before the snow flies."

Five months later, the mall is still without a ramp. Carmody said a few "snags" he hit along the way caused delays until the end of winter.

"There were some changes in the company and we had to get proper signing and we had to get some quotes to come in," he said of the contractor who signed on to do the work.

"Things don't happen as quickly as you'd like them to, so it's a little frustrating but we're still online.

"It's not an issue with me. Because of the location we have to make sure all our ducks are in a line because city property butts right up against us so I have to make sure what I do, I don't have to do it again."

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, but Moss said if the mall fails to comply with the order in time it could face a fine of up to $10,000 under the territorial Fire Prevention Act and possible jail time of up to one year.

Moss said he gave an identical order to management of the lower half of the mall, owned by HREIT Holdings 18 Corporation, because it is also short on providing accessibility.

"You're supposed to have 50 per cent of your entrances accessible and they have four entrances with only one accessible," he said.

However, Shawnette MacNeil, property manager for the lower half of the mall, said it has not received an order from Moss to offer more accessibility, and 50 per cent of their entrances are accessible to people in wheelchairs.

"Unless (Moss) is including the stairwell between the two malls, we really only have three," MacNeil said Tuesday.

"Even if he did file it, I'll fight it. We offer more than 50 per cent."

MacNeil said the two entrances on the side of the mall located on 49 Street are wheelchair accessible, and the lone exit on 50 Street is not. MacNeil added she does believe the issue of accessibility between the upper and lower needs to be fixed.

The two levels are separated by a two-level staircase, forcing people who need to use a ramp to go back outside and around the building.

"It's a pain in the butt for people," she said, adding the two management teams have been in talks for a long time.

"Discussions have been going on since Jesus Christ walked the Earth. We have to figure out a way to connect the two malls."