'Fieldhouse is kind of our life' says Yellowknife family forced to close canteen amid strike

For Mustafa Sarikaya, his wife Reyhan and their three children — life revolves around the Yellowknife Fieldhouse. 

It's a place to earn an income, interact with their community and share their culture. 

"Fieldhouse is kind of our life," Mustafa Sarikaya says.

He won the contract to operate the canteen at the City of Yellowknife facility when it first opened in 2011.

"My son was only three months old. Now he's 12. Now we have other kids. Our kids grow in the Fieldhouse."

But since unionized City of Yellowknife employees walked off the job last week, the Yellowknife Fieldhouse has been closed to the public and Sarikaya, who isn't a city employee, has been forced to shutter his business. The city and the Public Service Alliance of Canada negotiators have agreed to go back to the negotiating table Monday in hopes of reaching a deal. 

"It's kind of bad right now because I don't have any other income, just Fieldhouse right now. I hope it doesn't take that long and we go back to business again and ... continue serving our customers."

"Most of our customers are kids and they probably will be so happy to see me again. I am the only guy that sells cotton candy in town right now," he jokes.

Sarikaya says luckily, most of the food he sells, he buys frozen.

"Because it's frozen we don't waste much things. We bring some stuff home and use it for personal things or we donate some stuff if it's too much."

His canteen was only able to reopen three and a half months ago after being forced to shut down for over a year because of the pandemic. Having to close last week is yet another financial hit, Sarikaya says.

"I'm lucky my wife at least she's working. She brings some money at home right now. Otherwise I'm gonna look for some other job to make some income," he says.

Sarikaya is not taking sides in the dispute; he'd just like to see it come to an end. 

"I believe city workers ... they need some raise too," he says. He's hopeful the city and workers will come to an agreement "and everyone can be happy and we can get back to work, back to business."

Family business

Sarikaya and his wife moved to Yellowknife in 2004, just three years after he immigrated to Canada from Turkey. Two of his siblings and his mother still live in the country and were lucky enough to have escaped the devastation of last week's earthquake. 

His canteen includes the flavours of home. 

"We don't have a full kitchen we can't do much things. We do Turkish coffee, Turkish desserts and we have a Turkish wrap. Not much. Just want to show a little bit of Turkish tastes," he says.

The canteen is very much a family business. It's normally open on evenings and weekends and you can often find the majority of the family behind the counter.

For Sarikaya though, the Fieldhouse is more than a place to earn a living. He lives and breathes soccer — coaching, refereeing and playing most days of the week. He's also the vice president of Yellowknife's adult soccer league. 

"We live half of our life in the Fieldhouse, half or our life here," Sarikaya says, from his living room.

Right now, much of that life is gone. 

"We're in the emptiness. You feel the emptiness. There's nothing much to do," he sayd. "I hope it doesn't take long."