While many of Enterprise’s residents have been displaced from the community for months, they will still be able to vote in the hamlet’s upcoming election.
Of the community’s 120 residents, only 25 to 30 currently reside in Enterprise, according to Blair Porter, the hamlet’s senior administrative officer.
Many residents were displaced after a wildfire burned through the community in August, leaving only a few homes standing.
Enterprise’s local election is set to take place on February 13. Under the NWT’s Local Authorities Elections Act, a person is only eligible to vote if they were a resident in the electoral district “for at least twelve consecutive months” immediately before the day they vote.
However, residents temporarily displaced from Enterprise will still be eligible to vote and run for local office in this month’s election.
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“If they were a resident as of August 13, when the wildfire happened, and they’re merely displaced, they are on the voter’s list,” Porter said.
Jay Boast, a spokesperson for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, or Maca, confirmed that displaced Enterprise residents will be able to vote in the February 13 election.
“To be clear, for the purpose of this general election, Maca is of the opinion that all residents displaced by the fire should be presumed to have the intention to return, and therefore are eligible to vote and run for council,” he said in a statement.
Any residents who moved to Enterprise in the last 12 months will not be eligible to vote.
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Boast added that to be eligible to vote in a local election in the NWT, people must “be ordinarily resident in the community.” He said that includes residents who are attending school, incarcerated or in hospital.
“Residents who take long absences are still considered ordinarily resident if that absence is six months or less,” he said.
According to a candidates list published by the hamlet, Sandra McMaster and Michael St Amour are running for mayor in Enterprise’s upcoming election. Barbara Hart, Clifford Kimble, Michael Zak Kimble, Malcolm MacPhail, Sandra McMaster, and Charles Sutherland are running for three council seats.
Porter said voter eligibility for Enterprise’s 2025 election may depend on the status of displaced residents.
Presently, uninsured residents are waiting to hear from Maca whether they will qualify for disaster relief funding in order to rebuild their homes. The department has said eligibility will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Progress on resident’s files, Porter said, may impact whether they return to the community before next year’s election.
“Once that’s determined and once people make a decision as to whether they go or they stay, then that will affect, obviously, the voter’s list and those who can run for office,” he said.
