Legislators in the Northwest Territories have voted down a controversial bill aimed at cracking down on bootleggers and drug dealers.

Had it passed, bill 7 — the proposed safer communities and neighbourhoods (SCAN) act — would have created a team of four Yellowknife-based special investigators who would work for the territorial government.

It would also have given the government the right to apply for a court order to evict people from homes where drug-dealing and bootlegging was suspected.

But some communities and special interest groups raised concerns that the legislation could be misused by squabbling neighbours, as well as strip people of their civil liberties. The N.W.T. Human Rights Commission urged the government to abandon the bill.

And earlier in August, MLAs on the government's standing committee on social programs said the bill should not be pushed through the legislature before the session ended on Thursday, in advance ofan Oct. 1 territorial election.

Members on the committee said they doubted the investigators could deliver effective justice to people in remote communities outside Yellowknife.

Justice Minister Brendan Bell, the lead proponent of the bill, proposed last-minute changes Wednesday night to make the proposed law more palatable to regular (non-cabinet) MLAs.

But instead of supporting the bill with changes, the members voted to refer the legislation back to a committee.

That effectively means the bill has died on the order paper.