N.W.T. hospital builders now eyeing Yellowknives land to house workers

After being rejected by Yellowknife city councillors, the companies building the new Stanton Territorial Hospital are now eyeing Yellowknives Dene land as a place to temporarily house construction workers.

Ernest Betsina, the chief of N'dilo, says the Yellowknives Dene First Nation (YKDFN) entered negotiations with Clark Builders and Bird Construction last week.

That's a week after city councillors voted down a plan to house the workers inside the city's Kam Lake Industrial Park, after residents of a nearby neighbourhood cried foul.

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"It's still ongoing. Nothing's confirmed," said Betsina of the negotiations, though he added that more should be known by the middle of this week.

The First Nation is currently negotiating a land claim with the federal and territorial governments.

Betsina declined to specify what pieces of land are under consideration for the camp, which is expected to house between 150 to 250 workers.

Dave Brothers, the vice-president of Northern operations for Clark Builders, told city councillors that if a work camp was not allowed, "the [hospital] project would probably be devastated. We could not build it in the timeline that's required to build it in."

Construction began last year and is expected to last about three years.