MLAs pass motion calling for wildfire public inquiry

NWT MLAs have formally voted to hold a public inquiry into 2023’s wildfire season, but that doesn’t mean an inquiry will happen.

In a vote, all 10 regular MLAs present supported an inquiry. Six cabinet members opposed the motion. Two MLAs weren’t in attendance – Inuvik Boot Lake’s Denny Rodgers and Yellowknife South’s Caroline Wawzonek, the finance minister.

While the motion passed, cabinet has said a yes vote does not automatically trigger an inquiry and ministers will work with regular MLAs on “next steps.”

In the middle of the debate, Frame Lake MLA Julian Morse revealed cabinet had made a proposal for an alternative way forward. Premier RJ Simpson later stated that alternative would be an independent commission – a three-person panel acting as “a buffer” between the GNWT and contractors reviewing the handling of last year’s wildfires.

Cabinet’s proposal hasn’t been made public and the full detail isn’t known. Simpson called on regular MLAs to support the commission idea.

Whether cabinet will now coalesce behind a public inquiry, look to launch a commission in line with its apparent proposal to MLAs, or carry on with the existing reviews as planned – and in spite of Thursday’s vote – is not clear.

Simpson’s government is already planning two after-action reviews handled by contractors, and he has previously argued those will be sufficiently thorough and independent not to warrant what he believes could be a costly and unwieldy inquiry process.

Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart and Dehcho MLA Sheryl Yakeleya, who are proposing a public inquiry under the Public Inquiries Act, say that’s the only way to achieve a fully independent and rigorous examination of the NWT’s worst-ever wildfire season and the evacuations it triggered.

On Thursday afternoon, the original motion was amended to call for a three-person panel to be established under the Public Inquiries Act, with one person appointed by cabinet, one by regular MLAs and one by Indigenous governments through the Council of Leaders.

Simpson said his proposed independent commission could use an identical three-person panel, without having to rely on a Public Inquiries Act that he says is outdated and inflexible.

Testart said the legal advice he had received suggested the legislation could be employed to create a carefully designed inquiry.

Why regular MLAs want a public inquiry

Explaining why existing review processes aren’t good enough in her view, Yellowknife North MLA Shauna Morgan said the transparency required was not there.

“Even if we’re assured by the government that Maca staff wouldn’t be directing the contractor – they would just be supporting or coordinating – practically speaking, regular members and members of the public are not going to be in those rooms to be able to monitor to what extent Maca staff are coordinating, and not crossing over the fine line towards guiding or directing a contractor,” she said.

“I believe that Maca should just stay out of the review.

“If there is no review that is seen as independent and credible, the next time there’s an emergency, people may not trust or follow government’s direction at all. People may not agree to leave their homes and evacuate, and that’s a real danger that we need to contemplate here.”

Great Slave MLA Kate Reid reprimanded the premier for going public in earlier interviews with his view that an inquiry isn’t the way forward, suggesting it got in the way of meaningful collaboration.

“Maybe the government can be trusted to investigate its own actions last summer but, however thorough and complete its review, there are sure to be doubts, particularly among those who are most directly affected by the fires,” Reid said.

“Cabinet could take those doubts right off the table right now and earn a whole lot of public trust and respect by agreeing to launch a public inquiry.

“It’s kind-of depressing that the government needs to be convinced to do the right thing. And ultimately, it feels likely they won’t even now.”

Dehcho MLA Yakeleya said: “As we look to the future, we may be facing more and more natural disasters and emergencies. Let’s take a pause and hear from everyone impacted, so we can get this right.”

Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh MLA Richard Edjericon – describing the chaos of last year’s evacuations, for which he says an inquiry is the best way to get answers – recalled that “patients in the hospital here were sent all over the place, nobody knew where.”

“Families didn’t know where they were,” he said. “I had constituency members sitting on the streets in Calgary because they were let go from their hotel, or didn’t even check in.”

What ministers said

A complicating factor for the government is that the premier has pledged the number-one priority is collaboration with Indigenous governments.

The likes of the Tłı̨chǫ Government and Dene Nation have already publicly called for a public inquiry, so cabinet declining to support one – this motion having passed – would require explaining how that aligns with the Simpson government’s stated intent to work more closely with Indigenous leaders.

Even so, Jay Macdonald and Vince McKay – two cabinet members who were residents of Fort Smith and Hay River respectively, better known for their careers in municipal politics at the time of the fires – each said they now preferred reviews to an inquiry.

Macdonald, now the environment minister, argued an inquiry should only be considered once the after-action reviews are complete if “we’re still not satisfied.”

A man with wildfire management experience, he reflected on the trauma staff will feel from last summer and said an inquiry could be “punitive” in nature.

Acknowledging he “campaigned on holding the government accountable,” McKay – now the communities minister – drew a comparison with the Steve Norn inquiry, which cost in the vicinity of $1 million. Simpson made the same point, arguing that nobody thought the Norn inquiry went well. (Testart, responding, said that inquiry hadn’t taken place entirely under the same legislation.)

“It immediately goes to lawyers,” said McKay, outlining his concerns about a public inquiry, “and away they go.”

“I would rather see somebody who is qualified and knowledgeable in emergencies start asking these questions, independently,” he argued, saying that was the process used in Fort McMurray and Slave Lake after fires hit those communities.

Thursday’s debate leaves a few possible paths forward. Cabinet could:

• relent and agree to hold a public inquiry;
• press ahead with the existing reviews as they are, ignoring Thursday’s vote;
• introduce an independent commission as outlined by Simpson, but which some regular MLAs said they had been briefed on and rejected as a plan; or
• adopt Yellowknife North MLA Morgan’s recommendation of an external review like one used by the BC government in 2017.

The BC review was carried out on top of departmental reviews after the province experienced damaging floods and fires that year.

Morgan said she hoped Thursday’s motion passing would “put enough pressure on premier and cabinet to embrace this kind of fully independent review,” even if no inquiry ends up being held.