The territorial government is contracting out the cleanup of this site, previously occupied by Roger Ettagiak at kilometre 312 on Highway 4. The site consists of hundreds of cars, trucks, tires, a mobile home, large work shed and other debris. - Cody Punter/NNSL photo |
Car hoarder taken to court
Man accused of leaving behind a site 'that resembles a junkyard' on Highway 3
Randi Beers
Northern News Services
Published Monday, October 13, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The territorial government is pursuing court action against a man who abandoned hundreds of vehicles and other debris on a site off Highway 3 earlier this year.
The Department of Lands issued a statement of claim against Roger Ettagiak last summer after two years of negotiations failed to get him to vacate the area where he has amassed - according to court documents - "numerous vehicles in various states of disrepair, including cars, sport utility vehicles, trucks, vans, campers, trailers and boats, as well as generic trash like insulation, propane tanks, bicycles and windows in what resembles a junkyard."
The documents say Ettagiak made repeated promises to crush the cars and remove them from the property, but inspectors noted on return visits "the site had not been cleared of vehicles and debris. In fact, it seemed there were a few more vehicles on site."
Ettagiak was given notice to appear in court June 28, but he did not show up.
Because of that absence, Justice Shannon Smallwood issued a court order giving Ettagiak a month to vacate the property and clean it up, or face eviction and the possibility of owing clean-up expenses.
According to the documents, Ettagiak was evicted with two other people on Sept. 30.
The territorial government issued a request for proposal to find a contractor to clean up the site around the same time as the eviction.
The government first got wind of Ettagiak's encampment in 2012 when the Yellowknives Dene First Nation complained to the lands division of the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs that a man was squatting there. Around the same time, the department's consumer affairs office received a separate complaint that Ettagiak was running a business out of the site.
Inspectors found Ettagiak the second time they inspected the property. In an affidavit, senior lands inspector Robin Sproule said the man claimed a representative from the federal Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development had told him it was Treaty 8 territory, although he admitted he is not a Treaty 8 person.
Toni Riley, communications manager for the Department of Lands, said this is the second site cleanup the territorial government has initiated since devolution.
"Other than the current case of unauthorized occupancy, there was a small-scale removal of an abandoned cabin site which was under $5,000, and therefore, no (request for proposal) was issued," she stated in an e-mail to News/North.
She wouldn't say how much her department thought the Highway 3 cleanup would cost.
According to Riley, the territorial government investigates abandoned sites as they are discovered and attempts to learn the identity of the person using the site and whether they have a legal right to be there
From there, the department can take legal action against the person using the land. Currently, there are 12 cases of unauthorized occupation of public land before the courts.
The Department of Lands inherited responsibility for public lands on April 1 when the federal government downloaded a handful of new responsibilities and powers to the Northwest Territories.
The request for proposal to clean up the site closed Oct. 7.
