Yukon lawyer says N.W.T.'s proposed eviction legislation targeting drug dealers could be unconstitutional

The N.W.T. Department of Justice is planning public engagement on Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) legislation this fall, but a Yukon lawyer is warning that such a law could be unconstitutional. 

The SCAN Act would allow the government to bypass the Residential Tenancies Act and the criminal justice system to shut down buildings with criminal activity and kick out drug dealers. It's part of a suite of proposals that the N.W.T.'s premier has said will make buildings and people living in them safer. 

A SCAN Act was voted down in the territory more than a decade ago, and has proven controversial elsewhere such as in the Yukon – where a judge struck down parts of the act in September, ruling that allowing governments to evict tenants with five days' notice infringes on the Charter rights to security of the person.

Vincent Larochelle, who represented a woman accused of drug trafficking in that case, said the legislation risks "inviting everyone to become … a vigilante without any checks or balances" and could amplify racial biases.

In 2020, government officials served Larochelle's client, Celia Wright, with a five-day eviction notice following complaints of alleged drug activity in her rental unit in a Whitehorse suburb. The eviction applied to everyone living at the property, including her eight children and, according to Larochelle, made Wright's elderly mother-in-law homeless.

"If you're going to affect someone's rights based on criminal behaviour, the proper process to do that is the criminal justice system," said Larochelle.

A spate of drug-related crime, alleged murders and fatal overdoses in the N.W.T. are reviving calls from MLAs and the premier to establish SCAN legislation. This October, the N.W.T. Department of Justice will seek public feedback on the act, as well as a proposed Civil Forfeiture Act allowing police to seize proceeds of crime and a Trespass Act to remove people causing disturbances. 

Legislation could be introduced by summer 2026, a department spokesperson said in a Tuesday email. 

A cabinet spokesperson said Jay Macdonald, the recently appointed justice minister and the N.W.T. Premier were unavailable for an interview for this story.

Speaking in the Legislative Assembly on Feb. 6, Simpson said the goal of the proposed legislation is to "make [the N.W.T.] a miserable place for drug dealers to do business."

SCAN legislation emerged from Manitoba in the 2000s because businesses were being affected by street crime. Such laws are now in force in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Yukon and Alberta.

Civil liberties association monitoring for changes

Larochelle said in practice, a SCAN Act creates housing instability which can increase criminal activity.

Short-notice evictions cause "extraordinary psychological suffering" and displace vulnerable people onto the streets or into the homes of family and friends, he said. 

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) intervened in Wright v. Yukon because SCAN represents a "gross deprivation of liberty interest", said CCLA equality program director, Harini Sivalingam.

"People that had nothing to do with the activities that were being targeted — family members, children, grandparents, roommates — all of those individuals were getting swept up in this as well," said Sivalingam.

The CCLA will monitor legislative changes in the N.W.T., she said.

He said the targets of SCAN legislation are often already ensnared with the criminal justice system, child and family services or grappling with addictions. They are very vulnerable, have a lot of internalized guilt, and don't usually hire legal counsel to fight the eviction notice, he said. 

Celia Wright, however, launched a Charter challenge.

"She knew what it meant to her brothers and sisters, Indigenous people in the Yukon and she would have none of it," he said.

Human rights commission will provide feedback

In 2007, N.W.T. MLAs voted down a similar bill. 

RCMP were "keenly interested" in the legislation at the time according to an Aug. 21, 2007 letter. The N.W.T. Human Rights Commission back then urged MLAs to scrap it. 

Its current chair, Charles Dent, said in a recent interview the commission will supply comments on any future legislation, such as how a person's social condition, like being low-income, is a protected ground. 

If someone lives in a building that is the only one they can afford, and the criminal actions of others trigger an eviction, this contravenes the N.W.T. Human Rights Act, he said. 

"Discrimination that can be tied to any of the protected grounds or areas will have to be carefully examined before determining whether or not SCAN legislation is going to be workable in the N.W.T.," he said.