Yellowknife cabin lot lottery draws 100s but leaves many more empty-handed

When Rudy Vanderjagt won the chance to lease one of 22 eagerly-sought cabin lots on Yellowknife's Ingraham Trail, the motorcycle-riding electrician couldn't help himself: "Bingo," he exclaimed, before pumping his fist in the air. 

Who can blame him? The draw hosted Monday night by the N.W.T. government was the first of its kind in 30 years. It comes at a time when the government isn't accepting any new applications for leases on Yellowknife's most popular recreation area, and when details on when the freeze will be lifted remain out-of-reach.

Besides, Vanderjagt had barely made the cut, entering the draw shortly after getting a Yellowknife address.  

"I was just down in Calgary for six months to go to school to finish my apprenticeship and take care of some personal business with my mom," he said.

"I'd given up my apartment up here so I didn't have an address until I got back."

'Thank goodness nobody has any tomatoes'

Yellowknife's Northern United Place was filled to its maximum-225-people capacity, with the crowd of hopeful leaseholders spilling out into the hallway, where the results of the draw were relayed to them in real time.

All told, 913 people were vying for only 22 vacant cabin lots, spread out among six lakes along the Ingraham Trail.

N.W.T. Commissioner George Tuccaro presided over the draw, pulling ballots out of a draw box borrowed, according to rumour, from the local scouts.

Immediately after each of the 22 ballots was pulled, Tuccaro then announced (after pulling from another draw box) the ballot holder's positioning for choosing a lot.

In other words: just because Vanderjagt's was the fourth ballot pulled doesn't mean he'll get fourth pick of the lots at the lot selection meeting Wednesday morning. He'll get twentieth pick, actually — not that he really cares.

"This is my dream," he said. "I've always wanted to have a piece of land right out on the lake where I can just take by boat, go fishing and be left alone, basically."

The crowd oohed and ahed at the announcement of each lot selection number, prompting Tuccaro to remark, "Thank goodness nobody has any tomatoes."

22 winners, 891 losers

The winners' circle — at least among those who were at the draw; attendance wasn't mandatory — seemed contained to the second row. Seated just a few seats from Vanderjagt, and right beside another winner, was Jeremy Armitage, an N.W.T. parks planner who initially froze when his ballot number was called.

"I've only built a few things," he said. "So [the cabin] will probably be a hodge-podge at first."

As for three winners being seated in the same row: "We were sending positive waves," said Armitage.

Not everyone was feeling the good vibes. Dozens of people left the hall early, even before an alternate 22 ballot numbers were drawn (in case some of the original 22 don't proceed with a lease application and end up passing on the opportunity to someone else).

As for the 869 other people for whom the draw resulted in nothing but a $100 registration receipt, the key question is when the territorial government will open the Ingraham Trail up to regular (non-draw) lease applications again.

A framework for managing land in the area — spurred by the territory's taking on new land because of devolution — is supposed to be completed in the spring. And after that...

"Based on tonight, we see there is a large demand," said Terry Hall, the government's director of land use. "So I suspect in the future we'll have to deal with that.

"But if you're looking for a specific date, I can't give you that."

Bummer, right?