SCAN IS DOING ITS JOB, SUPPORTERS SAY

In the year that's passed since the Yukon adopted the Safer
Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) Act, the public has made 139
complaints about 108 properties whose tenants are engaging in harmful
activity.

In the year that's passed since the Yukon adopted the Safer
Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) Act, the public has made 139
complaints about 108 properties whose tenants are engaging in harmful
activity.

Since the SCAN office opened in late 2006, Yukoners have been able to
report such ongoing harmful activities as prostitution, drug activity
or bootlegging at residences in their communities.

As a result of the public complaint process, activity has voluntarily
ceased at 20 locations, according to government figures distributed
this week.

Another 17 tenants have been formally evicted after they failed to
stop their activity, despite repeated warnings.

"Yukoners have shown that they support the legislation by turning to
the SCAN office for assistance when there is ongoing, harmful activity
in their community," Justice Minister Marian Horne said in a release.

"Yukoners tell us that they feel safer in their neighbourhoods, thanks
to this legislation."

"I think it has had a positive impact on people who are trying to live
downtown and raise their children," Todd Hardy, the NDP leader and
longtime downtown resident, said in an interview.

Hardy was instrumental in bringing SCAN to the Yukon by introducing an
opposition member's bill outlining the new legislation in 2005.

Although the governing Yukon Party initially voted against the bill,
Hardy said he was "very pleased at the end of the day that all parties
came together to bring this forward.

"We've made it far more difficult for (those engaging in harmful
activity) to set up," he said. "Some of them move away and others give
up. It has a far-reaching impact."

But Hardy said the Yukon's substance abuse issues are far from
solved.

"The legislation only goes so far," he said. "No one expected the
problem to disappear immediately."

Hardy added that a long-term addiction treatment centre would be a
welcome addition to the community.

"It's so impossible for anyone to complete a 28-day program and be
cured," he said, referring to the 28-day addiction treatment program
offered by the territorial alcohol and drug services unit.

"We need to work to get people off the streets and into healthier
environments."

Hardy said the disparity between the number of complaints SCAN has
received and the number of times action was taken may be attributed to
a lack of evidence of harmful activity or unjustified complaints.

There could be many explanations, he said.

Hardy said the effects of SCAN are felt in his own neighbourhood, as
shown by a recent incident:

"Recently I went by one of the known drug houses (in downtown
Whitehorse) and it seemed to be up and running again," said Hardy.

"But neighbours weren't too upset because they felt they had a
mechanism to get rid of it."

Mayor Bev Buckway said this morning "the effectiveness in the first
year speaks for itself.

"The first-year stats have proven to be very positive," she said. "I
think it's wonderful that the residents have just picked up on this."

She called it interesting that 90 per cent of the complaints were made
in Whitehorse.

"It shows that (harmful activities) are not welcome in
Whitehorse."

Roxanne Livingstone, a board member of the Downtown Residents
Association, said she is very impressed with SCAN's influence in the
community.

"The success is visible around downtown. I walk past houses that are
drug beehives, with people coming and going every six minutes. Then I
see the green notice of eviction (on some houses). It's fantastic, the
changes that are happening downtown.

"Some of the awful, destroyed drug houses are being bulldozed. The
downtown is being cleaned up, not only phyically but in moving the
drug trades," she said.

"SCAN shows that this community cares enough to stick its neck out. We
care about each other enough to say, 'No, we can't just turn a blind
eye to this.' We are proactive."