Downtown business owners decry 'party scene' outside Whitehorse shelter

Some days people urinate on the lawn beside the entrance to Hans Otteli's pet store. And that's just what happens during business hours, says Otteli, who owns Duffy's Pets.

The store is located beside an emergency shelter in downtown Whitehorse. Otteli says the "party scene" outside the shelter is an ongoing issue.

In addition to the noise, he has found people injecting drugs on his lawn. Vehicles in the parking lot across the street have been sitting with smashed windows since November. Every morning, he cleans needles and vodka bottles off the lawn. Once, his wife was almost hit by a bottle that was tossed over the fence he built to keep people out.

"I mean, this is the third entity that took over," says Otteli. "And it got actually worse with every one ... I spent literally days and weeks in meetings since this all happened, with every entity of the government, with the RCMP, you name it. And it's always the same talk. Talk doesn'tdo it anymore. We need action. We need security here 24/7. Two guys at least."

The shelter opened as the Centre of Hope in 2017. It was managed by The Salvation Army until the Yukon government took it over in 2019. It changed hands again in October of 2022. Vancouver-based Connective partnered with the Council of Yukon First Nations to run the shelter.

Walter Streit, who owns nearby Alpine Bakery, says he was hopeful the change in management would lead to other changes. That has not been the case for him either.

He says the noise, in particular, is constant. Bylaw services only respond during the day. The RCMP sometimes respond in the evenings, but often they're busy with other issues.

As a partner, CYFN's sub-contract only goes as far as providing cultural programming at the shelter, the organization confirmed.

Connective is responsible for daily operations. Streit says the organization does communicate with neighbours and makes an effort to gather feedback. However, Connective is largely responsible only for what happens inside the shelter.

Streit wants to know who's taking responsibility for what goes on outside. Because the shelter remains funded by the government, he believes some responsibility lies with them.

Connective has not responded to requests for comment. The Yukon government was also unavailable.