The Yukon's Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods legislation failed its first test in court.

The law, known as SCAN, gives the territory's director of crime prevention the power to evict renters suspected of dealing drugs from their homes.

Karen Nicloux was one such suspect.

A neighbour called the SCAN office in late February to complain that known drug users and dealers were frequenting Nicloux's Granger house, and that Nicloux herself was allegedly "dealing crack."

After a month of on-and-off stake-outs, the SCAN investigation team decided they had sufficient evidence to show the accusation was true.

They delivered an eviction notice on April 9 with the blessings of Nicloux's landlord, a manager with the Whitehorse Housing Authority, and the director of crime prevention.

Within hours, Nicloux had filed an application to the Yukon Supreme Court that the eviction order be thrown out. Her case marks the first time a SCAN eviction has been challenged in the Yukon courts.

That evening, she was arrested near Hamilton Boulevard in the Granger subdivision.

Whitehorse RCMP allege she was in the middle of a drug deal with a woman named Xiao Wen.

One and a half grams of cocaine were seized during the arrest, according to police, and drug trafficking charges were laid against both women.

This was the second time Nicloux was arrested on suspicion of dealing crack. The first time was on April 7.

Police reported that on that night, when Nicloux was approached by an officer in the alley behind Hanna Crescent in the McIntyre subdivision, she dropped two bags which contained 13 grams of cocaine, separated into 0.3 grams "flaps", and "baggies" weighing between two and seven grams.

But, as the judge who considered Nicloux's application to have the eviction order dismissed said, the first arrest "has nothing to do with the tenant engaging in the prohibited activities at or near the unit."

The second set of charges were laid after the hearing, so the judge never heard of them in court and could not consider them when making his ruling.

Justice Earl Johnson put a 60-day hold on the eviction order. Yesterday, he released his decision in favour of Nicloux.

He said the eviction order was based on "weak" evidence, and he criticized the director of crime prevention for allowing it.

"If the director had applied for the order, I would have refused to grant it," the judge said.

In his decision Johnson pointed out several unfair circumstances in the SCAN complaint-investigation process, including the fact that the accused person cannot know who originally made the complaint, nor cross-examine that person in court.

In this case, the whole process was rushed, he said, and the director should have taken more time to prepare the case against Nicloux and have it approved by the court rather than approving it himself.

"An application for an order would have been preferable and would have given the director sufficient time to prepare affidavits of better quality to substantiate the allegations," Johnson said in his decision. "... Hopefully this is how the director will proceed in

the future."

The judge ordered the Yukon government to pay Nicloux's legal costs, which would otherwise have been paid out of the territory's legal aid fund.

But all this is perhaps moot for Nicloux, who has found herself facing yet another set of charges.

The 43-year-old woman is currently in jail after being arrested on April 17.

She is charged with possession of crack cocaine, failing to stop when ordered by a police officer, escaping custody and possession of a cell phone or pager contrary to a court order.