NWT wildfires: who’s reviewing what, so far?

While NWT MLAs have postponed a debate on whether to launch an independent inquiry into the 2023 wildfire season, some reviews are already under way.

The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and the Department of Environment and Climate Change, or ECC, have each commissioned a type of review known as an after-action assessment from external companies.

Communities minister Vince McKay said his department’s review will be the largest ever undertaken by the NWT government.

“I want residents to know that this is a priority for this government,” he told the legislature last week.

“We already know it will highlight gaps in last year’s emergency response, but it will also inform how we collectively prepare for, manage and recover from emergencies in the future.”

McKay said the review will include feedback from community and Indigenous governments, as well as public forums in affected communities. He did not indicate when the assessment is expected to be complete.

Environment minister Jay Macdonald told the legislature the review for his department is being conducted by a team of wildfire and program assessment experts.

Macdonald said that review will focus on wildfire management and his department’s wildfire program structure, budget and administrative systems.

“I am proud of the extraordinary work done by our wildfire management team, fire crews, wildfire experts and other first responders in the face of extraordinary pressure and unpredictable conditions,” Macdonald said. He was the deputy mayor of Fort Smith, whose residents spent more than a month under an evacuation order, at the time of last year’s fires.

“While every wildfire season offers valuable lessons for adapting how we respond,” the minister said, “one as extreme and challenging as 2023 is especially important to learn from.”

Macdonald said ECC’s review began in November and is expected to be complete by the end of March. He said it will be released publicly before the 2024 wildfire season.

Further details about the after-action assessments, including which companies have been hired to conduct them, have not been publicized.

Some regular MLAs have expressed skepticism over whether those reviews will be truly independent and address concerns such as how vulnerable people and front-line organizations were supported during evacuations.

Two MLAs, Range Lake’s Kieron Testart and Dehcho’s Sheryl Yakeleya, have led calls for a public inquiry with a panel of two people appointed by cabinet and two by regular MLAs.

While some MLAs said they were disappointed when a debate and vote on such an inquiry was postponed from last week to February 22, others said the delay will give them “time to make the best and most informed decisions.”

Premier RJ Simpson has stood behind the territory’s existing after-action assessments and says a separate public inquiry is unnecessary.

Simpson said he hopes to use the two-week postponement to work with regular MLAs and Indigenous governments to ensure the reviews meet their expectations.

“We need to ensure that the things that went wrong, that we didn’t prepare for – that we didn’t know we needed to prepare for, even, during the last number of evacuations – are addressed and we do a better job going forward,” Simpson told the legislature last week.

“I think they’re well-suited. I think they’re designed to get that information,” he said of the after-action assessments, adding they will include feedback from residents and non-governmental organizations.

The territory’s 2023 wildfire season was the worst on record. Nearly 70 percent of the NWT’s residents were forced to evacuate, in some cases more than once.

More than four million hectares of land were burned. The territory has said last year was the first time NWT homes were destroyed by wildfire.

City of Yellowknife launches review

The GNWT isn’t the only one running reviews.

The City of Yellowknife has launched its own after-action assessment of the municipality’s wildfire response, ranging from the city’s declaration of a local state of emergency to its strategy for coping with evacuees’ pets and the role volunteers played in protecting the city.

Last week, the city said audit firm KPMG had been contracted to complete the assessment, which will identify where the city did well and where it could improve. The city said the review will consist of five phases: project initiation, document review, engagement, analysis and reporting.

According to the city, KPMG is currently reviewing documents. The engagement phase, which is set to include a virtual public forum and in-person focus group discussions, is expected to take place between mid-February and the end of March. Information on how to participate is not yet available.

The municipality said preparations for the 2024 wildfire season include updating its emergency plan and community wildfire prevention plan.

The city’s budget includes $100,000 to implement the recommendations of the after-action assessment and $20,000 for a public information session on evacuation preparedness.

At least two non-governmental organizations in Yellowknife have completed their own reviews of this past summer’s wildfires.

Avens released a summary review of the evacuation response last month, while the Yellowknife Women’s Society released a detailed summary of its evacuation experience in October.

City, GNWT stress personal responsibility

In launching their after-action assessments, both the city and NWT government stressed the responsibilities of residents during emergencies.

The city said residents are responsible for regularly following updates from various levels of government, highlighting advice offered by the city, territorial and federal governments.

McKay, the NWT communities minister, said individuals and families should have emergency plans, emergency kits and emergency contact information ready. Property owners and businesses, he said, should have insurance and plans in place, while businesses should have continuity plans.

Finally, the minister said community governments should have local emergency management organizations and community emergency plans that are reviewed annually, and residents should be familiar with those plans.

“Unfortunately, due to climate change, we can likely expect more frequent and severe wildfires and floods in the future,” McKay said.

“I know it can be difficult to hear that disasters will happen again. But it is critical that all of us, as individuals, businesses, communities and this government, take action to prepare for and respond to disasters, should they occur.”