This article was first published by APTN News in Canada.
It’s a simple act with a big impact.
For Terry, who sports a shaggy mane tied back in a sleek ponytail, today’s haircut is long overdue.
Five years of locks fall to the ground in minutes.
“I was sweating too much, this feels better,” Terry says.
The buzz of clippers fills the air as folks shuffle in, grab food and sit down, waiting for their turn for some self-care.
Organized by the Yellowknife Street Support Network, volunteers are offering free haircuts to people experiencing homelessness, with no appointments necessary.
For Charlene Bounds, a hairstylist from Vixen Hair Den, the change is immediate.
“A haircut gives them transformation, it makes them feel good and it’s a beautiful thing,” Bounds says.
Organizers said they hope for a transformation that goes beyond the mirror, as clients reclaim dignity often lost while navigating homelessness.
The nonprofit, established in November 2025, is Indigenous-led and grounded in lived experience. Its focus is on low-barrier, culturally rooted support.
The group is wrapping up four weeks of programming for veterans and clients experiencing homelessness, which included arts and crafts, filleting fish, shared meals, and time in a wall tent for conversations around the woodstove.
Georgina Frankie, a Tłı̨chǫ Dene co-chair of the organization, says the work begins with respect.
“A lot of them are sober when they attend our session, and they want to be called by their real names, we know them from the street names, but then listen and learn from them,” she says.
That small act of recognizing identity and humanity is central to the organization’s approach.
“We are human beings that are being treated inhumanely,” Frankie says.
She’s spent years speaking out against the overrepresentation of Indigenous people facing homelessness. She has been involved in helping build tent platforms for clients wishing to camp outside during the summer months in green spaces around the city, and can often be seen handing out warm clothes and food during the winter.
She said many existing systems are difficult to navigate and often focus on a single issue at a time, excluding those dealing with complex challenges and unmet core needs.
She also referenced words from one of her staff.
“It’s good not-for-profits have a mission, a statement, a goal, but if it’s only a paper file, then that’s not what we want to be, we want to be more than that,” she says.
Many volunteers know homelessness firsthand
Cindy Nitsiza, from Whatì, has lived in Yellowknife for a decade. She spent two years without stable housing and would often have to walk around day and night when shelters were full.
“Winter was a struggle, so I go for a walk every morning to see people that I know … I just want to know if they’re okay,” she says.
Bernard Michel, originally from Lutsel K’e but living on and off in the city, also walks the streets with a different purpose and says volunteering with the Yellowknife Street Support Network has helped him in his recovery journey.
“I was tired of hanging around and trying to stay away from drinking, but I had no place to go.”
According to the City of Yellowknife’s 2024 point-in-time count, at least 327 people are experiencing homelessness, but agencies and advocates say the number could be closer to 400.
The data also reflects broader systemic and historical inequities, with 85 per cent of those experiencing homelessness in Yellowknife identifying as Indigenous.
In 2017 the city released “Everyone is Home: Yellowknife’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness” a plan which aimed to tackle issues through a Homelessness Commission, and strategies such as the Housing First model and expanded emergency shelter capacity.
The plan set a goal to make homelessness in Yellowknife “prevented wherever possible” and, if it occurs, “rare and brief.”
Advocates say those targets have not yet been met, but the compassion of frontline grassroots organizations working collaboratively with other not-for-profits is making a difference.
Moments like this may seem small, but organizers say they matter.
“We want to help them, and help themselves, and a lot of them want to make a change,” Frankie says.
Beyond haircuts, organizers say they’re now working on funding proposals to deliver one-month, six-month, and one-year programming.
“We would like to set up a camp city where they’ll have land-based training, language and culture, and our way of life, like going on the land, taking them fishing, chopping wood,” Frankie says. “Things that they can do for themselves.”
- APTN News, Canada
