The GNWT just set out how its wildfire review is going to work

The NWT government has begun the search for someone to carry out a major review of how 2023’s wildfire season was handled.

A request for proposals has appeared on the territory’s procurement website. Contractors have until March 28 to submit a bid.

The GNWT wants the successful bidder to begin interviewing people by May, have a draft report ready by September and submit the final document by November 2024.

The territory hasn’t set a budget, meaning it’s up to contractors to decide how much they think the work should cost.

There’s also a big shift in who’s responsible.

The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is no longer in charge of the review. Instead, the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs – led by the premier – has control. The GNWT said this was to “ensure independence from Maca,” given that department’s role in emergency management last summer.

The Department of Environment and Climate Change is conducting its own separate review of how fires were fought last year, but this latest review is in many respects “the big one” as far as the GNWT is concerned.

This one will look at how risks were assessed, how governments prepared, the evacuations and their aftermath, communication from the GNWT, and the “transition to recovery” such as bringing people home and assessing damage.

Starting a review in the spring and having a final document by November, for a series of incidents as severe as 2023’s fires and evacuations, will require an extreme shift from the pace of past reviews. Maca’s review of the 2021 flood season only arrived in January this year.

Calling this “the largest review in the GNWT’s history,” Premier RJ Simpson said whoever wins the contract “has a big job ahead of them, and I look forward to seeing how the results will improve our response to future emergency situations.”

The final review will be a public document, the GNWT stated in a news release.

Who will the review hear from?

In the request for proposals, the GNWT sets out who the winning contractor should interview.

There should be “surveys, interviews, and in-person public engagement sessions in the NWT communities that were evacuated,” the RFP states, naming those communities as Hay River, the Kátł’odeeche First Nation, Sambaa K’e, Wekweètì, Behchokǫ̀, Fort Smith, Jean Marie River, Enterprise, Kakisa, Yellowknife, Dettah and Ndılǫ.

Surveys should be sent to various emergency organization members at community, regional and territorial level, the RFP continues, as well as relevant GNWT staff and senior managers, MLAs who were in office at the time, Indigenous governments, NGOs, chambers of commerce, businesses and the public.

Interviews, either in person or as a group, should take place with:

• territorial emergency management organization members, GNWT staff and managers and NGOs (146 interviewees, the RFP estimates);
• regional emergency management organization members (around 39 interviewees);
• community governments and local emergency organization members (around 23 interviewees);
• MLAs at the time (19 people); and
• Indigenous governments (the GNWT estimates “approximately 12 Indigenous governments” and says those governments should decide the number of interviewees).

The public engagement sessions appear to be the main avenue for residents’ feedback. There will also be an opportunity for written submissions.

More: Read the RFP’s terms of reference in full

The winning contractor is asked to review existing plans and policies, look at best practices in other jurisdictions and make recommendations. It’s not clear if the contractor will have any ability to inspect government documents such as emails, notes, chats and messages exchanged during last summer’s wildfire season. Nothing in the RFP appears to expressly suggest that will be the case.

“The successful proponent must ensure anonymity of feedback collected throughout the engagement to protect the privacy of respondents providing feedback to ensure participants can be candid,” the RFP states.

The GNWT hopes to have a contractor in place by April 15.

Simpson has said he remains open to a public inquiry if this review and the ECC review don’t deliver satisfactory answers. Regular MLAs voted earlier this month to hold a public inquiry, but that vote was non-binding.