SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Levena Keyookta has already lost and paid for replacement birth certificates twice in order to get valid identification and a bank account ­ a first step to securing employment and a common barrier for the majority of residents at the emergency women's shelter.

First Nations Bank of Canada chairman and CEO Keith Martell, and FNBC Yellowknife branch manager Sheila Conroy presents a cheque for $5,000 to Yellowknife Centre for Northern Families CEO Caroline Johnson. Johnson said the money will be used to help women obtain otherwise cost-prohibitive IDs so they can open bank accounts and enjoy the benefits that come with something as simple as valid ID. - Walter Strong/NNSL photo

"A large amount of the centre residents have no identification currently because they are not employed, et cetera, and they have no means of getting the funding to get identification," said Caroline Johnson, the CEO of the Centre for Northern Families, which runs the shelter and offers services to low-income families.

With a donation of $5,000 from the newly opened First Nations Bank of Canada Yellowknife branch, the centre is working with clients to acquire birth certificates, photo identification and open bank accounts.

On average, Johnson said the shelter sees up to 30 women check in each night, and estimated that 65 per cent of them are without proper identification.

"I used to have an account, 13 years ago, at the Royal Bank in Iqaluit," said Keyookta, a regular resident at the centre. "They asked me for two IDs to open one here."

With the help of Johnson, Keyookta and several other women at the shelter have also been able to open bank accounts.

"I want to get a job but they ask me for my account," said Keyookta, adding that when she used to work, she was paid by cheque, whereas employers now pay by direct deposit. As well as getting a job, Keyookta said she needs photo identification so she can travel back to her community of Broughton Island, Nunavut.

"I've got two IDs now; I just need a birth certificate," said Keyookta.

A barrier in accessing birth certificates for several women at the shelter is the $20 fee, which Keyookta said she has already paid twice, after losing the certificate. Margaret Beauchamp, shelter co-ordinator and case manager said staff has been filling out a steady stream of birth certificate applications and have many more to come.

"They've had ID at one time or another but it's gotten lost. In order to get, for example, a SIN card, you need a birth certificate, to get a birth certificate you need $20," said Beauchamp. "Unless you have $20 and send a money order, which is going to cost extra again, you're not going to get a birth certificate and none of these ladies here are on income support or anything so if they don't have some kind of job, they have no income. So, they don't have $20."

Health cards also cost $20, said Beauchamp ­ a key piece of identification, along with a birth certificate, to access other identification.

"It's one step forward. Everyone should have ID," said Johnson. "It's always been a barrier to women and for years we've talked about it as an agency, but we don't have the funding."

Occasionally, Johnson said, women have been able to secure enough money to access their own identification, but added that a number of the centre's clients have concurrent disorders, often mental health and addiction, and will often spend the money elsewhere.

"If you don't have a basic ID, then within a formal society you're not recognized on paper," said Johnson. "Without proper ID you can't get on a plane, can't access bank accounts; you have to have two pieces of ID to open a bank account."

As well as driver's licenses, NWT Identity Cards have also been issued by the Department of Transportation as valid identification since 2000, said Wayne Norris, manager of road licensing and safety division.

"We felt that there was, obviously with times changing and people travelling a lot more and identity becoming more of an issue, there is a group of people in our society that would require such a document," said Norris. "People that don't have a driver's licence ... they need to get on an airplane and travel, go to the bank, so they need proof of who they are with a photo. This is why we provide an ID card."

Although photo identification is listed as a requirement for obtaining a NWT Identity Card, Norris said residents can also provide a guarantor form, if no ID is available.

"You find someone that has known you for at least two years, get them to sign the document, you sign the document and you take it before a commissioner of oaths, notary public or Justice of the Peace," explained Norris.

Breaker: Grateful toward the bank

"Ninety-five per cent of women at the shelter are First Nations," said Johnson. "It is quite empowering for the First Nations Bank to be able to help First Nations."

With valid identification and bank accounts, Johnson said the centre's clientele would have access to services and opportunities that they have been otherwise without.

"Just to be able to get your GST credit into the bank account, versus mailed out ­ it's the small privileges that bank accounts give you ­ those things that make life easier," said Johnson.