A clearly frustrated elected official from a small Gwich’in community says complaints of drug dealing in public housing are ignored by authorities at all levels.
Mackenzie Delta MLA George Nerysoo said he was confronted on the weekend by residents of his home community, Teetl’it Zheh (Fort McPherson), who are fed up with hard drugs being peddled in their community of 650 people.
Outsiders often will set up shop in Housing NWT units, either coercing or working with the tenants.
“Drug dealers are coming into our smaller communities and setting up their network in the public housing units because they know that nothing is being done to move them out by any authority,” Nerysoo told the Assembly on Tuesday.
“The residents know who these drug dealers are and where they are stationed, yet, when they give tips to any of the authorities, it is the ‘policies and procedures’ that protect the criminals.
“It hurts me personally to see these unfortunate (addicts) targeted and preyed upon, while family and community members cannot do anything to help protect our members of the community.”
Nerysoo is just the latest MLA to raise an alarm about some bad tenants in Housing NWT units, who make life miserable for law-abiding ones and also who prey on addicts in the community. It happens across the territory.
Mackenzie Delta MLA George Nerysoo in the NWT Assembly on March 11. (Image courtesy of Assembly livestream)
Premier R.J. Simpson has previously stated new legislation is in the works to provide law enforcement with more tools to shut down drug houses, seize assets from traffickers, and deter crime.
However, there is no firm timeline for when those laws might come into effect.
Also on Tuesday, even as Regular MLAs expressed concerns at a morning Government Operations Committee hearing, in the afternoon a GNWT notice went out stating the new Indigenous Employment Policy comes into effect April 1st.
The new policy will replace the outdated longstanding Affirmative Action policy. It is needed to ensure Indigenous applicants, “have equitable opportunities for employment and career advancement within the public service,” stated a release.
The Indigenous Employment Policy establishes “preferred hiring status” for Indigenous peoples, with primary consideration given to those who are recognized members or descendants of First Nations, Métis, or Inuit peoples indigenous to the present boundaries of the Northwest Territories.
Additional consideration will be given to Indigenous peoples who are recognized members and descendent of a First Nations, Métis, or Inuit peoples indigenous to areas of Canada outside of the present boundaries of the Northwest Territories.
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Open in new tab Indigenous employees from the NWT currently make up 29-per-cent of the GNWT workforce, compared to about 50-per-cent of the total population.
It was revealed in the hearing that only about 64-per-cent of the Indigenous population are actually available for work, perhaps due to age or medical reasons.
Arguments were presented by Regular MLAs on committee that better education outcomes are needed for young people, so they are able to attend post-secondary education generally required for a government job.
Monfwi MLA Jane Weyallon Armstrong said more GNWT office decentralization would be helpful, providing opportunities for Indigenous people where they live, where their families are.
Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins bluntly withdraws a statement he made in the Assembly on February 28th. Speaker Shane Thompson ruled Hawkins’ off-microphone quip broke Assembly rules. He had asked Hawkins to apologize to the House. (Montage main image courtesy of Assembly livestream)
