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Finding a way home for the homeless
First Nations manager for Deline wants members living on the streets of Yellowknife to return to the community

Cody Punter
Northern News Services
Published Friday, October 11, 2013

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
As Yellowknife struggles to adequately support its homeless population, a First Nations community more than 500 km away is expressing an interest in helping solve the problem.

Pauline Roche, manager for the Deline First Nations, said the band wants to discuss ways to welcome back members of the community who are currently living on the streets in Yellowknife.

"We were talking to (Coun. Rebecca Alty) regarding some of our band members that are homeless and on the streets there. What we wanted to try and do was help the people of Yellowknife clean up their city," said Roche. "I wanted to know how we can help one another."

Alty said she discussed the issue with Roche at an AGM for municipalities earlier this summer.

"We were talking about issues we both face," she said. "If we continue to pit everyone against each other it's not going to work."

It is no secret that a large percentage of Yellowknife's homeless population comes from other communities.

According to Lydia Bardak, executive director of the John Howard Society which runs the downtown day shelter, people from Deline make up the third largest group at the shelter, after people from Lutsel K'e and Behchoko.

Bardak said there is any number of reasons why people from the communities end up on the streets.

"There's plenty of people who come to Yellowknife who genuinely believe they're going to find jobs," Bardak said.

Roche said people from Deline can have a hard time returning home due to the cost - the community is only accessible by plane.

"It's not as hard for people who live on highways," said Roche.

Roche added that the GNWT's medical travel system is too rigid and ends up with people being stranded in Yellowknife.

"People go for a medical, they miss their appointment and they don't get their ticket to come back because they missed their appointment. So they end up on the streets," said Roche.

While the GNWT has tightened its medical travel regulations in recent years, Bardak said the GNWT also offers a program to allow homeless people to return to their community.

"Social services does have a program that will assist you with travel costs to go home if you can assure them that you can have housing and support in your community. That's part of their homelessness program," said Bardak.

While the program is beneficial in theory, Bardak said a lack of housing and medical support in Deline make it hard for people to prove they will be better off there than they are in Yellowknife.

Bardak cautioned that simply buying plane tickets for people would not necessarily improve the situation.

"The first and most important thing to do is look at why those individuals are on the streets in the first place," she said. "Ultimately, it's great if people can return home. But if they don't have the necessary supports they might be putting themselves at risk."

Roche said there are several programs available to the people of Deline, including on-the-land programs.

"Elders always told us that the one key thing is that you go out on the land," said Roche. "We've always had that available here. We do a lot of programs in the community."

The other challenge, according to Bardak, is the fact that all Canadians are guaranteed the right to free mobility under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. As such, nobody can be forced to get on a plane against their will.

Roche said whenever representatives from the Deline First Nations take a charter plane to visit Yellowknife, they make a trip downtown to search for people who want to come home.

During a recent visit to Yellowknife, five people from Deline got on the plane back to the community, said Roche.

Although there has yet to be an official meeting between the city of Yellowknife and representatives from Deline, both Roche and Alty hoped that discussing these issues together will help alleviate problems faced by both communities.

"If there are multiple communities working together we might get action," said Alty.

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