INUVIK - It's just a matter of time before cabin owners on Airport Lake will have to pay for the land they occupy.

Hugo Prud'homme, a lawyer who's owned a cabin on the lake since 2003, welcomes the news, arguing that by signing a lease agreement or purchasing the land outright cabin owners will be given more protection than they currently have.

"Obviously, you know no one will take the land from you, that's one reason," he said. "It will also make it easier to pay insurance and easier to sell and buy a cabin there."

Forty-one cabins currently sit illegally on territorial government land. The town is in negotiations with the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) to acquire the land. But before that process is completed the town wants squatters to enter into land ownership agreements.

Prud'homme said he's anxious to see what kind of terms he'll receive from the government. Since the squatters currently don't get water and sewage service he doesn't expect the cost of land to be too high.

Without some legal ownership of the property he said current tenants are vulnerable.

"By having it, it will provide some security. No one will try to (build) a cabin in front of you," he said. "There will be a process to follow so I think at the end of the day it's a better situation for everyone."

The issue first came to council in September when officials from MACA offered the unsurveyed land to the town and told councillors of its plan to force land tenants to enter into lease agreements with the GNWT.

Council agreed to form a committee to deal with negotiations with MACA. The group has come up with various options to deal with the situation, including a three-year lease agreement with a stipulation for squatters to buy after the agreement ends. Cabin owners would also have to pay to have their land surveyed.

Several councillors are against inheriting lease agreements and would rather the town simply sell the property outright.

Coun. Terry Halifax chairs the negotiations committee and said a public meeting will be scheduled with lake tenants for around the middle of November.

He said a deadline hasn't been set for when the town will acquire the land.

Coun. Vince Sharpe said the GNWT should have set up land ownership agreements with Airport Lake cabin owners long ago. He argued the territorial government is trying to dump its problem on the town.

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