Their home burned, then the car vanished. That was the start.

Amal Ibrahim and her family were tenants at Garden Townhomes until their unit burned down in last October's fire.

They say belongings left amid the fenced-off remains, from a car and expensive family heirlooms to tools and patio furniture, are being systematically removed without anyone telling them what is happening.

"I've seen them just taking things away. It just brought the trauma right back. I was going absolutely crazy that day, when I'd seen them taking our stuff," said Ibrahim.

"What right do they have? This is robbery. This is theft. They took our stuff without our permission."

Northview, which owns the Garden Townhomes complex, declined Cabin Radio's request for comment.

The Ibrahims discovered their property was being moved when Amal's husband, Gailani, noticed their car was no longer parked in front of their old home.

While their car wasn't fenced in with all their other belongings, Ibrahim says they were unable to access it, in part because the site was monitored by video surveillance and security personnel.

Keys to the parked car, along with many of the family's other possessions, lay under the rubble of the collapsed building.

Through the fence, tenants have been able to see undamaged property they want to retrieve. Bicycles and barbecues are two examples, though Ibrahim says her family also wanted to search for a fire-proof box containing valuables, legal documents, and even gold and jewellery they say is worth more than $100,000.

Email correspondence viewed by Cabin Radio indicates residents were told by a Northview employee that they could not enter the site to search for their belongings until Northview gave the green light. The tenants say that day never came.

When Ibrahim investigated the car's whereabouts in mid-April, she discovered it had been towed and impounded. Then, a contractor began cleaning up the site by piling up and disposing of everything left behind in the chaos of the fire.

Now, Ibrahim has no idea where her belongings have gone or whether they will be returned.

Ibrahim's family of five are public housing tenants. She says she has found communication tricky and confusing in part because, technically, her family signed a housing contract with the local housing authority in Yellowknife, which assigned them to a Garden Townhomes unit that the authority in turn rented from Northview.

"The tenant is responsible for their private property and belongings, and the removal of debris from the fire is the responsibility of the owners of the building," read a statement from Housing NWT president and chief executive Eleanor Young.

"Some items at the fire site were deemed unsafe and contaminated by the fire department, with an order that they not be removed from the site except for disposal."

Young declined to comment on specific client files.

When Ibrahim and her husband addressed the missing car with Northview and the Yellowknife Housing Authority, she says they were told the car would be returned if they paid a $300 towing fee.

The car has since been returned. Ibrahim says she will not pay the fee.

Ibrahim's husband is a mechanic, she says, alleging that the car has sustained around $6,000 in damage since it was towed.

Car damage that the Ibrahim family says was sustained during or after it was towed from the Garden Townhomes site. Photos: Amal Ibrahim

Ibrahim does not know who will pay for these repairs.

"What right do you guys have to trash this vehicle?" said Ibrahim. "There’s no justification, there’s no communication with us. Nothing was given to us and they just continue to dictate to us and treat us badly."

Ibrahim says a Northview employee told her the rest of their possessions at the fire site would be discarded because of concerns about asbestos, but she says she received different explanations from different people.

One Northview employee said the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission had determined the site was unsafe due to asbestos, she recalled, while another said that was decided by the Office of the Fire Marshal.

In a statement to Cabin Radio, a WSCC representative said their agency did not – and does not – conduct safety assessments of sites like Garden Townhomes.

"WSCC did not determine the area unsafe or restrict residents' access, as this decision is not within the WSCC’s jurisdiction," said spokesperson Sarah McLeod.

"We conduct inspections of work sites only, for the purpose of ensuring employers have controls in place to protect workers from safety hazards."

The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, representing the fire marshal's office, said it "did not take direct authority of the site" but instead "directed Northview to close and secure the area in order for the site investigation to be completed."

"Once this is done, the property is released back to the property owners and they are responsible for determining who can enter the area and the safety requirements," the department added.

The fire marshal's site investigation was completed on October 25, 2023.

Ibrahim is not satisfied with the answers she has received.

"It was really sad to see them talking about safety and asbestos," said Ibrahim. "The workers taking the stuff to the dump, nobody's wearing any protective gear. How come security aren't wearing anything, not even a mask?"

Ibrahim doesn't believe the safety risks justify moving her belongings without giving the family an opportunity to retrieve things, or proactively explaining what is happening.

"Nothing was communicated to us. I received the worst treatment ever. My suffering has just continued," said Ibrahim.

"I left that house with not even shoes on my feet. I left everything that I’ve ever collected in my life in that house. It means everything to me. It’s my identity and they took that from me. They took everything from me."

Since moving to another unit at Garden Townhomes, the Ibrahims say they have reported heating problems and water leaks, including one from the smoke detector that repeatedly set it off.

She says a maintenance worker detached the smoke detectors and the family is now living in a house without any, several months after a fire destroyed their last home.

"Housing NWT encourages public housing tenants to contact their Local Housing Organization if there are maintenance issues," Young said in a statement. "The LHO prioritizes response to the work subject to the urgency of the repairs required."

"Housing NWT investigates every complaint, following its policies and procedures to ensure the correct course of action is taken," she added.

"It's just one after another, no break," said Ibrahim. "I think people are just tired of fighting. I'm fighting and I'm not getting anywhere."

Shadaine Shirley, another resident who lost his home in the Garden Townhomes fire, had a surveillance system at his house. His cameras filmed the moments leading up to and during the fire.

The hard drive was retrieved from the fire site and submitted to RCMP last October. It was then returned to Shirley in mid-March.

Shirley says the footage shows that "not everything from the house is burned." He, too, wanted to retrieve belongings, asking Northview before cleanup began if he could access possessions he kept in a shed beside his home that wasn't damaged.

In email correspondence seen by Cabin Radio, a Northview employee told Shirley the company was waiting for test results before allowing residents to return to the site and remove belongings.

Northview declined to provide more information regarding these tests.

Ibrahim's new home was visited by an assistant fire marshal on April 26. When the walk-through concluded, the employee called the unit "absolutely unacceptable," Ibrahim said.

"He's going to write his report to Northview," said Ibrahim. "He said it's not safe because you cannot mix fire and water together. Northview has to come and do a major job and check. This is a fire hazard."

Maca spokesperson Jennifer Young said: "Although a fire inspection did not occur, the assistant fire marshal did attend the site and advised the property owner of his observations related to fire safety in the unit.

"It is important to note the Office of the Fire Marshal is not the appropriate venue to deal with tenant-landlord disputes."

While conditions are challenging, Ibrahim says her family is stuck. Leaving public housing won't necessarily protect the family from similar conditions elsewhere, and moving again would further disrupt their lives.

"This is the quality of treatment that I'm getting from them. I have to accept. What else to do?" said Ibrahim.

"I don't know if they want me to give up my YK Housing lease and go out. Where else to turn? Everywhere here is controlled by Northview."

Northview is Yellowknife's dominant landlord. As of 2020, a forerunner of the current company was reported to control more than a thousand residential units in the city.

The Ibrahims say they have been to RCMP about the destruction of their property and are alternatively considering a civil case.

"The matter and the complainants were referred to the fire marshal's office as they were in control of the scene," read a statement from RCMP spokesperson Cpl Matt Halstead.

"This is certainly a tragic situation all around for the families at Garden Townhomes but the complaint made was not assessed as being criminal in nature."

"This is my rights, and who are they to take my rights from me?" said Ibrahim. "I am not leaving, I am not giving up. I’m going to fight until I die.”

The cause of the fire is still under police investigation, Halstead said.

Simona Rosenfield, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cabin Radio