Yellowknife evicts Giant Mine houseboats

The City of Yellowknife is cracking down on houseboats moorednear the public dock at the Giant Mine town site.

The city has given houseboat owners until 3 p.m. on July 31 to move the boats or the city may do it for them.

Unlike the houseboats along Joliffe Island, you can walk on to these boats from the shore as they're tied to land the city leases from the territorial government.

A sign at the dock says "no overnight mooring."

Lee Ross, who was born and raised in Yellowknife, said he is happy the city is taking action.

"It's not a really good spot for them here," he said. "They're sitting on the bottom of the lake here so I'm not really sure it's a houseboat if it's sitting on the ground."

Yellowknife Mayor Mark Heyck said this has to be done to be sure everyone can enjoy the public area.

"There's an element of regulation that needs to be applied perhaps to houseboats and we've seen and heard that from people who aren't houseboaters but people who are houseboaters as well," he said.

He said the removal from the Giant Mine dock is not an attack on the houseboat community.