MLAs seek formal vote on NWT wildfire public inquiry

Northwest Territories MLAs will hold a vote on Thursday regarding whether to pursue an independent inquiry into the handling of last year’s wildfires and evacuations.

Premier RJ Simpson and his new cabinet have suggested they do not believe an independent inquiry into the territory’s worst-ever fire season is necessary, pointing to the range of after-action reviews either under way or soon to start.

But on Tuesday, as the legislature reconvened for its first sitting of the year, some regular MLAs publicly pushed for an independent inquiry to happen.

Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart gave notice that he’ll introduce a motion on Thursday, seconded by Dehcho MLA Sheryl Yakeleya, seeking the establishment of a four-person panel to examine the GNWT’s wildfire response last year.

In a press release, Testart called that a “necessary step to restoring public trust in our government after a chaotic and unprecedented crisis.”

His motion calls for the inquiry panel to feature two people appointed by cabinet and two by regular MLAs, with the power to summon witnesses and compel the production of documents.

Yakeleya, in the same press release, said the territory must “be transparent and accountable in how decisions were made during the crisis” and give residents “a voice in the process.”

Through a spokesperson, cabinet has already said it believes the existing reviews will give the public a voice and do a thorough job of analyzing what happened in 2023, a year that saw more than two-thirds of the NWT’s population come under evacuation orders.

While cabinet argues the existing reviews are independent in the sense that hired contractors will do the work, regular MLAs like Yellowknife North’s Shauna Morgan have said any government-commissioned review is inadequate as the GNWT ultimately holds the purse strings and controls the terms of reference.

In the legislature on Tuesday, Morgan – who was on the Yellowknife Women’s Society’s board at the time of Yellowknife’s evacuation – recounted the experiences of some vulnerable people after being evacuated south to Alberta.

“By the end of August, in Calgary alone, 58 people from the NWT had spent at least one night in a downtown shelter. Many experienced assault, overdoses and suffered various traumas,” she said.

Later, Morgan asked Premier Simpson whether he thought after-action reviews alone would do the job.

“They are well-suited, they are designed to get that information,” Simpson replied.

“The reviews are going to include feedback from NGOs, the NGOs that were participating in the evacuation, that were assisting the vulnerable populations. We need to know the issues that they ran into and we need to figure out how the government can better assist them going forward.”

Simpson said the GNWT had to find out exactly what happened and ensure “we don’t make the same mistakes again.” The reviews already planned, he said, “will get it done and help us address that in the future.”