City of Iqaluit seeks $65K from long-defunct society

This abandoned house on Fred Coman St. in Iqaluit was once a youth cottage and transitional homeless shelter in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It has stood unused for over a decade since the Illitiit Society dissolved. (PHOTO BY COURTNEY EDGAR)

The small building at 762 Fred Coman St. in Iqaluit has sat empty for more than a decade. Yellow paint peels off its exterior walls, its windows are boarded up and an old, weather-battered couch still sits on its porch.

The building served as a youth cottage for at-risk teens in the late 1990s and then became a transitional shelter managed by the Illitiit Society in the early 2000s. Since at least 2005 the building has been vacant.

According to the City of Iqaluit’s recently published list of property tax debts, this building is owned by the Illitiit Society, which currently owes $65,459.12 in arrears. That’s the most owed by any organization, although 12 individuals show up higher in the list.

There’s just one problem: the Illitiit Society no longer exists. It was dissolved in 2011, according to Nunavut’s corporate registry.

It remains unclear how the City of Iqaluit plans to collect tax arrears from a non-existent organization.

Ed Picco, contracted by the City of Iqaluit this summer to help with communications, initially said he couldn’t comment on the specifics of the Illitiit case, citing privacy concerns and the fact that these kinds of city records are kept on file for only seven years.

But after answering questions about the subject over several weeks, he eventually conceded the city probably now owns the property.

Bill Riddell, the former president of the Illitiit Society, said he’d like to see the building once again used to help house the homeless. But since Illitiit is now dissolved, he said a lawyer has told him he can’t sell the building.

Illitiit’s shelter shut in 2005, after the society’s funding dried up when it came to light that the society owed large amounts of money to Revenue Canada for pay cheque remittances.

Riddell moved to Ontario in 2010.

When Illitiit still existed, Riddell said he made efforts to have the city purchase the building, to no avail.

This year, delinquent property taxpayers in Iqaluit owe the City of Iqaluit over $3.5 million in total.

The first 12 on the list, in order of amount owed, are individuals. The first three collectively owe more than $2 million.

The Kellys, who have been at the top of the list for many years, owe $1,031,711.06. Jonah Kelly, the former CBC broadcast pioneer, died in 2012.

Following closely in second place is Jeetaloo Kakee, with a property tax debt of $841,583.53. This debt, along with the Kelly debt, predates the creation of Nunavut.

Debts of deceased tax delinquents are passed onto the heirs of the property owners.

According to Picco, the consequences of running behind on paying property taxes include not being able to get a business licence or development permit, and “if a property is to be sold, the city would require that the debt on property taxes, utility billings and land leases be paid in full before the sale can be finalized.”

“As long as there is an opportunity to collect through the sale of a house or transfer of a land lease, the city continues its efforts to collect what is owed,” Picco wrote.