'It's not a way to live:' Cockroaches, mould plague some Yellowknife public housing units

For about two years, Kairlyn Wedawin has tried making her apartment in Yellowknife a home but finds herself constantly cleaning to try and get rid of the smell of mould. Then, there are the cockroaches.

"They're coming in through the drainage, they're coming in through the little gaps in the floors," Wedawin says as she tours around her two-bedroom public housing unit on Lanky Court, pointing out where she's tried to caulk the floorboards to try and seal them shut to keep the bugs away, with little success.

Wedawin says she has given up buying dry goods. She stored them in her bottom cupboard in her kitchen, but the bugs keep finding their way in. In her bathroom, she keeps two plugs — one for the bathtub, and one for the sink, where the cockroaches tend to crawl through.  

"It's not a way to live," she said. One of her biggest worries is what the mould may do to her 14-year-old son who lives with her in the apartment. 

"You're always cleaning something just to get rid of that smell," she said.

In a separate building on Lanky Court within the same complex, Dianna Lockhart says she has been dealing with cockroaches in her public housing unit for a couple of years. She lives there with her two sons and daughter and is on a wait list to be transferred.

"I just want out of there," Lockhart said.

Richard Edjericon, the MLA for Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh, highlighted her story and others earlier this month in the N.W.T. Legislature. He described it as a "truly deplorable infestation."

"Constituents have contacted me complaining about severe mould, foul mould odours, worms, cockroaches coming through walls, floors, vents, plugs, under the sink, and floorboards.

"I've seen truly a horrendous video of this infestation submitted by the tenant, and I'm shocked that despite such definitive evidence nothing has been done by the N.W.T. Housing Corporation local housing authority throughout N.W.T. and here in Yellowknife to help families living in a safe and healthy environment," he said last Thursday. 

Lockhart said she had to call off her Thanksgiving dinner this year again because of the amount of cockroaches in her kitchen. The only way she'll cook is if one of her kids stands guard. 

"It's like living in hell," she said.

Tami Johnson, a spokesperson for Housing NWT, said in an email to CBC that the Yellowknife Housing Authority is currently addressing the pest control issue and is working with the tenants and the landlord, Northview, to solve the problem.

CBC News obtained a notice Northview issued to the tenants of Lanky Court apartments dated Oct. 19. It says pest control treatment would be carried out on Oct. 25 and 26, and asks residents to prepare their units.

"If your suite fails to be prepped on the date of treatment above you will be charged the full amount of the treatment and possibly our time in preparing your unit," it reads.

"Failure to prepare a second time will result in the tenant being charged back for all related costs including treatment of adjacent units. We will only be able to take care of pest control issues when all tenants cooperate."