Whitehorse tent city won't be shut down, says official

AYukon government official says an attempt to shut down a tentprotest outside the territorial legislature late last week was a mistake.

Government spokesperson Elaine Schiman told CBC News on Monday that nobody in cabinet seems to know who authorized the posting of a "no camping" sign on the lawn outside the legislature in Whitehorse on Friday.

Upwards of 50 peopleare campingon the lawn toprotest the lack of affordable housing in Yukon. The protest began in mid-June.

Schiman said Premier Darrell Pasloski and deputy premier Elaine Taylor ordered the sign to be removed on Friday afternoon, within hours of it going up.

The order to remove the sign came after opposition leaders complained that postingit was disrespectful on the day before acelebration of life service for NDP MLA Steve Cardiff, who had supported the tent protest before he was killed in a highway crash on July 6.

Schiman said there is no immediate plan to evict the tent protesters.

But NDP Leader Liz Hanson said she knows the territorial government has a plan to evict the campers, and shehas notbeen getting straight answers about what's going on.

"Where will they go if you tell them they have to leave here? How [are we] going to make sure that people have a safe place to live this winter?" Hanson said Monday.

Hanson said she hopes Pasloski or other government ministers will answer some of those questions at a housing forum scheduled for Monday night in Whitehorse.

Government officials have said there will be a housing-related announcement sometime this week.