I know what it's like to be homeless in Yellowknife

Emily Esau is originally from Inuvik, N.W.T. She moved to Yellowknife in February and has not been able to secure housing. Esau, who relies on facilities like the women's shelter, made a presentation to Yellowknife city council on Monday, forcefully, and sometimes tearfully, telling the mayor and councillors why a day shelter is urgently needed.

All summer I've lived in a tent, so I know what it's like to be homeless — wondering whether my tent is going to get ruined, or if I'm going to go sleep there by myself and someone is going to show up and hurt me, or worse. 

I have been experiencing issues finding housing in the city of Yellowknife.

I've been utilizing the facilities that are available to those of us who are homeless. I have very many friends who are, like myself, homeless. I know their hardships. We all talk together and we all have many of the same problems — some of us more extreme than others.

The issues are, we have a hard time finding jobs, number one because we look bad. We don't have access to regular laundry facilities or showers.

I am articulate, I am intelligent and still I have a hard time getting a job. The job I have is very good, Common Ground, and still that is not enough for me to be able to live off of myself. 

I work every day of the week and I'm looking for a second job so I can help myself. I'm still going to have to depend on some of these facilities, just so that I can live comfortably, so I can have clean clothes, access to showers, and eat every day.

My fellow homeless people don't have access to mental health counsellors.

Counsellors we see are trained in an office and they don't know our struggles. They are trained from a book. They have no idea. So it builds up this level of frustration, of not being understood. We don't have a home to go in a room and cry in afterwards.

I am articulate, I am intelligent and still I have a hard time getting a job.- Emily Esau

It is highly frustrating to deal with the bureaucracy and the paperwork for us to get our proper identifications so we can get our taxes and such. It is something that we're not used to dealing with. 

We do not have enough people to help us deal with that — to get our social insurance numbers, our birth certificates, our IDs, our firearm safety certificate so we can go out hunting, and provide for ourselves and go back to our natural way of living. Those are hard to get. 

And we're very sensitive to dealing with offices, and being in confined spaces, and listening to these very strict codes.

We have lost touch with our culture — it has literally been beaten out of us. We've lost the potential for teaching ourselves and providing for ourselves, living off the land instead of having to find our own shelter. And, our land has been poisoned.

I'm one of the younger generations that are suffering from the mental health issues that started with residential schools and such. I'm dealing with it, my mom's dealing with it — she went to residential school — my grandmother's dealing with it.

We're trying to break the cycle of hurting, of alcoholism, drug abuse, general abuse upon our people. It's hard. We need to learn, we need facilities where we can decompress, have a clear mind — not just thinking of the now, but of the future. 

It's hard when all you have to think about is staying warm, and whether the facilities that you are depending upon have enough to feed you. Every day we never know what we are going to have to face. 

We all have family and friends who care about us and want us to get better. 

This is very personal to me and it hurts to talk about it. We are in need of these facilities.- Emily Esau

We need something where us homeless can go during winter time. Winters are bitterly cold and not all of us are able to access a safe place to sleep during the night. 

We're lucky to have facilities like the Salvation Army and women's shelter, but they fill up and there's nothing we can do.

Some of my brothers and sisters, cousins and uncles are putting tents up outside, but they're still at risk of exposure.

This is very personal to me and it hurts to talk about it. We are in need of these facilities. 

With COVID-19, I think if there were multiple centres and everyone was designated to those small centres, that would help so not everyone is clumped into one congregation of people.

The Arctic Indigenous healing camp is a good example of how to help; they have a great program. It's more in tune to Indigenous groups and even if you're not Indigenous you can go there and feel comfortable because there's no judgment, there's no expectations. 

You go and you sit and you talk for as long as you need to with a counsellor. But their facilities are very limited; they only have so many staff.

It would be very beneficial to all of us if the city facilities had a counsellor, one like they have at the wellness camp. 

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