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CBC
10-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Yukon lawyer says N.W.T.'s proposed eviction legislation targeting drug dealers could be unconstitutional
The N.W.T. Department of Justice is planning public engagement on Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) legislation this fall, but a Yukon lawyer is warning that such a law could be unconstitutional. The SCAN Act would allow the government to bypass the Residential Tenancies Act and the criminal justice system to shut down buildings with criminal activity and kick out drug dealers. It's part of a suite of proposals that the N.W.T.'s premier has said will make buildings and people living in them safer. A SCAN Act was voted down in the territory more than a decade ago, and has proven controversial elsewhere such as in the Yukon – where a judge struck down parts of the act in September, ruling that allowing governments to evict tenants with five days' notice infringes on the Charter rights to security of the person. Vincent Larochelle, who represented a woman accused of drug trafficking in that case, said the legislation risks "inviting everyone to become … a vigilante without any checks or balances" and could amplify racial biases. In 2020, government officials served Larochelle's client, Celia Wright, with a five-day eviction notice following complaints of alleged drug activity in her rental unit in a Whitehorse suburb. The eviction applied to everyone living at the property, including her eight children and, according to Larochelle, made Wright's elderly mother-in-law homeless. "If you're going to affect someone's rights based on criminal behaviour, the proper process to do that is the criminal justice system," said Larochelle. A spate of drug-related crime, alleged murders and fatal overdoses in the N.W.T. are reviving calls from MLAs and the premier to establish SCAN legislation. This October, the N.W.T. Department of Justice will seek public feedback on the act, as well as a proposed Civil Forfeiture Act allowing police to seize proceeds of crime and a Trespass Act to remove people causing disturbances. Legislation could be introduced by summer 2026, a department spokesperson said in a Tuesday email. A cabinet spokesperson said Jay Macdonald, the recently appointed justice minister and the N.W.T. Premier were unavailable for an interview for this story. Speaking in the Legislative Assembly on Feb. 6, Simpson said the goal of the proposed legislation is to "make [the N.W.T.] a miserable place for drug dealers to do business." SCAN legislation emerged from Manitoba in the 2000s because businesses were being affected by street crime. Such laws are now in force in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Yukon and Alberta. Civil liberties association monitoring for changes Larochelle said in practice, a SCAN Act creates housing instability which can increase criminal activity. Short-notice evictions cause "extraordinary psychological suffering" and displace vulnerable people onto the streets or into the homes of family and friends, he said. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) intervened in Wright v. Yukon because SCAN represents a "gross deprivation of liberty interest", said CCLA equality program director, Harini Sivalingam. "People that had nothing to do with the activities that were being targeted — family members, children, grandparents, roommates — all of those individuals were getting swept up in this as well," said Sivalingam. The CCLA will monitor legislative changes in the N.W.T., she said. He said the targets of SCAN legislation are often already ensnared with the criminal justice system, child and family services or grappling with addictions. They are very vulnerable, have a lot of internalized guilt, and don't usually hire legal counsel to fight the eviction notice, he said. Celia Wright, however, launched a Charter challenge. "She knew what it meant to her brothers and sisters, Indigenous people in the Yukon and she would have none of it," he said. Human rights commission will provide feedback In 2007, N.W.T. MLAs voted down a similar bill. RCMP were "keenly interested" in the legislation at the time according to an Aug. 21, 2007 letter. The N.W.T. Human Rights Commission back then urged MLAs to scrap it. Its current chair, Charles Dent, said in a recent interview the commission will supply comments on any future legislation, such as how a person's social condition, like being low-income, is a protected ground. If someone lives in a building that is the only one they can afford, and the criminal actions of others trigger an eviction, this contravenes the N.W.T. Human Rights Act, he said. "Discrimination that can be tied to any of the protected grounds or areas will have to be carefully examined before determining whether or not SCAN legislation is going to be workable in the N.W.T.," he said.
CBC
07-02-2025
- CBC
Whitehorse man tells court he and his daughter have 'nowhere to go' if evicted under SCAN Act
A Whitehorse man testified in Yukon Supreme Court on Wednesday that he would fall on hard times if he were to be evicted from his home because of alleged "drug activity." "We don't have nowhere to go," said Henry Johnson, a First Nations man who lives with one of his daughters who suffers from seizures. "I want to see a change for the better, for everybody that's involved." The territory has been trying under the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods ("SCAN") Act to temporarily evict people from a house in Whitehorse's Copper Ridge neighbourhood. In a December petition filed to the Yukon Supreme Court, the territory's director of public safety and investigations alleges that a more than year-long investigation "gave rise to the reasonable inference" that the home on Topaz Crescent "is being habitually used for drug trafficking." The government states that activity looks like people coming and going from the house, including the alleged "primary drug trafficker." The SCAN process is separate from the criminal justice system. Police aren't involved, meaning people don't need to fear criminal charges. While the criminal justice system targets individuals, SCAN focuses on properties and uses measures like evictions to disrupt the activities taking place. The process has been criticized by advocates, who say it disproportionately targets historically marginalized communities. Crown prosecutor Sarah Bailey is trying to prove two things to a judge — that someone is repeatedly using Johnson's house to store, use and deal drugs, and that that use is affecting community safety and what she calls "quiet enjoyment." A SCAN investigation is also complaints-driven. In this case, at least two anonymous complaints were filed. The details of those complaints aren't clear and they haven't been filed as affidavits. Still, Bailey said combined with other forms of evidence — like video surveillance — the complaints help prove there are impacts on the surrounding community. Johnson's other daughter, Heather, took to the stand to defend her father. She doesn't live at the house but said she visits often and that she hasn't seen him take part in drug activity — neither using or dealing. "My father is a caring and lovable man, and he doesn't deserve what's going on," she said. "He just wants to be retired and at peace. "It's his house." The petition requests that the court grant a community safety order that would require all occupants to leave the house within 14 days, with no one allowed to then enter the property during the following 90 days. At stake now is whether to follow through with that, or allow Johnson — and perhaps a few trusted others like his other daughter who lives with a medical condition — to stay, while barring others suspected of being involved with drugs for upward of 12 months. Justice Karen Wenckebach's decision, to be issued Monday, will be based on one of those options. Between now and then, she must determine whether there's enough evidence of suspected drug activity, and whether claims that neighbourhood safety is at risk are reasonable. At one point in court on Wednesday, Wenckebach asked whether Johnson, who represented himself, could get people involved with drugs to leave his property. "Yes, I can," he said.
