Legal battle brewing over café at Whitehorse makerspace

A legal dispute is brewing between a fledgling café in Whitehorse and a non-profit organization meant to foster entrepreneurship.

At issue is the status of The Poor Creature café's lease to operate at Yukonstruct's makerspace headquarters downtown. 

According to Yukonstruct, the café's lease expired on Oct. 31, after the organization decided not to renew it.

The café owner, however, insists that they had effectively been told the lease was renewed — and so they're refusing to leave. They've been open for business this week, and referred any questions to their lawyer.

"They've reached the decision that they can stay, based on the interactions that they've had with Yukonstruct in the past couple months," said lawyer Vincent Larochelle.

"They're of the opinion that the lease was renewed for a term of one year, so that's their position at this point."

Yukonstruct's lawyer, James Tucker, has a different opinion.

"They're wrong," he said.

Tucker said Yukonstruct is preparing to go to court to force the Poor Creature out, if necessary.

No reason given, says business owner 

Café owner Brioni Connolly said last month that she had been handed a letter from Yukonstruct, notifying her that the Poor Creature's lease would not be renewed. She said it was a surprise, since she had been led to believe it would be renewed.

Connolly also said she was given no reason for the eviction. Yukonstruct officials would also not say publicly what was behind their decision.

Larochelle said whatever the issues were, they can be worked out through "co-operation and dialogue."

"There was a lot of discussions that were held between Yukonstruct and my client, and there are varying accounts of what unfolded," he said.

"Hopefully it doesn't need to go in front of a court in order to resolve what happened, and what is the current legal status."