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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
After three treatments by pest-controllers, crickets are still infesting the Shaganappy Apartments at 48 Con Road, according to residents.

Northern Property REIT, which owns the building, had Orkin Pest Control fumigate the building last Thursday, according to residents. The company previously had Orkin exterminators fumigate the building in April and May.

On Monday, tenants said the noisy pests are still there.

"I don't feel safe in my unit. Last night we were sitting at home watching a movie and you could literally hear the crickets in the walls around us. I have a big flat-screen TV and a surround-sound system and we had it pretty loud and to be able to hear the crickets over that is kind of scary," said Alana Biscaye, who rents a two-bedroom apartment on the first floor of the building.

She said she thinks the latest fumigation didn't make any difference.

"After that last fumigation, shouldn't they be gone? They said after doing three fumigations the problem would be fixed," Biscaye said.

Biscaye, who has lived at Shaganappy with her boyfriend and two children since February, said she would like to be transferred to another residence.

"I've really got to get out of here," Biscaye said. "It's very stressful living in these conditions and I shouldn't have to pay $1,655 a month to live in these conditions with two small kids."

Biscaye's friend Caroline Jeremick'ca, who rents a one-bedroom apartment on the second floor, said she is also fed up with the situation.

"It's just grossing me out to live in that kind of place, you know. It's not good," said Jeremick'ca, who pays $1,345 a month for her one bedroom apartment.

She said even though most of the cricket problem is on the first floor, it still affects her.

"When I go visit my friend downstairs I can hear crickets. And one day I was passing by and I saw a cricket," she said. "It's not good for the kids in this building or anybody in this place."

In addition to the crickets she said she has noticed small worm-like bugs in her apartment.

"I've even seen, once in a while, these little bugs. They're like worms or something," Jeremick'ca said. "They're tiny and crawling around the floor. Sometimes I'm even afraid to walk around my kitchen floor because I might see something like that. Why can't they just do something about it?"

Another Shaganappy resident, who asked not to be named, said the stress caused by the pest problem contributed to her decision to drop out of her program at Aurora College in May.

"It's so stressful," she said. "I couldn't sleep. You can hear them every morning. You can hear them every night."

She said she plans to move to Beck Court Apartments in the near future.

"It's like I'm living in the ghetto of Yellowknife," she said of Shaganappy.

Northern Properties management and Orkin Pest Control couldn't be reached for comment by press time.

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