Is the NWT’s emergency chain of command working?

As another wildfire season begins, some leaders are questioning how the Northwest Territories continues to assign responsibilities during emergencies. Others say positive change is happening.

The territorial government released updates to its emergency management plan last month, aiming to improve communication and clarify the roles of organizations and various levels of government.

The core of the plan remained unchanged, however, including a system of escalating responsibilities that uses a “bottom up” approach.

More significant changes to the plan would require amendments to the NWT’s Emergency Management Act, which the territorial government has promised to evaluate once a review of the 2023 wildfire season is complete.

The territorial plan stresses personal responsibility and places community governments in the lead when managing and responding to emergencies.

That includes tasks like developing and implementing community emergency plans, hosting evacuees, carrying out evacuations and caring for vulnerable people.

The emergency plan states that municipalities should only request help from the territorial government once their resources and capacity have been exhausted.

Emily King, director of the NWT’s emergency management organization, said that is best practice nationally.

“Emergencies are most often handled by first responders at the local level and community governments have community government assets,” she said during a public briefing on the updated plan.

But some leaders say the plan places too much onus on communities, particularly Yellowknife.

They say the capital is the hub of the NWT government, home to large territorial institutions such as the North Slave Correctional Complex and Stanton Territorial Hospital, and often serves as the evacuation destination for the rest of the territory.

‘A little tone deaf’

Yellowknife North MLA Shauna Morgan, who previously served as a city councillor, said there’s a “glaring absence” in the plan: no acknowledgment of Yellowknife’s unique role.

“I was disheartened by the overall tone that I got from reading it,” she said. “It was emphasizing all of the things that are not the GNWT’s responsibility.”

While she understands everyone has responsibilities during emergencies, Morgan said the focus on individuals and communities is “a little tone deaf” given the large-scale evacuations the NWT experienced last summer.

She said the territory’s plan lacks a mechanism for gathering and processing questions from the public during emergencies, or addressing disruptions in supply lines to communities.

When Yellowknife was evacuated last summer, many people struggled to get direct answers from the NWT government. Several communities expressed concern about access to food and essential goods as flights, truck deliveries and other supply routes were affected.

“I think it’s beyond the City of Yellowknife’s capacity to assess its impact on all other communities in the territory and mitigate those,” Morgan said.

“The city has a role and has many things to offer, and to contribute, and be part of the solution. But the idea that the City of Yellowknife can somehow coordinate all of it and be sort-of the master planner, essentially, for how the city can help the rest of the entire territory? I think that is beyond what we can expect from the city.”

Morgan wants a spirit of “let’s all come together and share what we have to offer,” rather than having communities work in siloes until their resources are overwhelmed, which is her perception of the plan.

She said communities don’t ordinarily operate in isolation from one another, and their operations are often intertwined with territorial government functions.

“To me, it would make more sense to think about how the territorial government should be working together with local authorities at all different phases or stages of emergencies to ensure that everything is coordinated,” she said.

Yellowknife’s deputy mayor, Garett Cochrane, agrees. He argues that requiring the city to manage evacuation centres on its own is beyond the municipality’s capacity and skills.

“I hate to say it, but my Zamboni drivers and maintenance staff don’t make up for social workers and nurses that should be automatically provided by the territorial government if we have to operate an evacuation centre,” he said during an interview on CBC North’s Trailbreaker.

When the city’s multiplex hosted evacuees from across the NWT during last summer’s wildfires, it was the territorial government that managed the evacuation centre.

As a wildfire approached Yellowknife in August, however, the NWT’s health authority said it did not have enough staff to run another evacuation centre. Officials have said that lack of staff played a role in the decision to declare a citywide evacuation.

City in ‘a much better position’

Yellowknife councillors Rob Warburton and Ryan Fequet told Cabin Radio city staff are working with the territorial government to clarify roles and responsibilities during emergencies – including who operates evacuation centres.

“Last year was a big wake-up call for everybody around the territory and there’s lots to be learned,” Fequet said.

“It’s really great that the GNWT is trying to incorporate some of those lessons learned into a revised emergency management plan.”

Warburton said since last year’s wildfire season, the city has been training staff on the emergency command system and plans to hold a full training simulation known as a live exercise soon.

He said the city will publish an evacuation plan by the end of June.

Fequet added the municipality has been working to improve communications and has created a new role titled manager of emergency preparedness.

“We are, I would say, in a much better position than we were last year,” Warburton said.

Fort Simpson’s mayor, Sean Whelly, said the NWT’s emergency plan provides clarity and there is “nothing wrong” with how the emergency management system works.

However, Whelly said communities find it hard to get the funding to prepare for emergencies or be reimbursed for those costs. He also wishes people were evacuated to hotels rather than municipal recreation facilities, and wishes the NWT government would take more of a role in those kinds of evacuation-related decisions where communities’ capacities are limited.

“It’s a lot of shoving things onto the communities,” Whelly said.

“They say they’ll step in if we say we can’t do it, but I think it could be a little bit clearer about what they will pay for.”

Whelly said the village’s limited resources make hosting evacuees from other communities “almost unworkable.” But he wants Fort Simpson to be in a better position to help.

Hay River’s town manager declined to comment for this article. The mayor and deputy mayor of Fort Smith did not return requests for comment.

‘A more refreshing approach’

Territorial officials have defended their emergency management plan, saying it is territory-wide and does not go into specific detail about communities or potential scenarios.

They say the NWT government is providing tools to help communities prepare for emergencies, including hosting workshops.

“The door’s always open with Maca and the emergency plan stuff,” communities minister Vince McKay said during a public briefing.

McKay told Cabin Radio he is confident the response to future emergencies will be “a lot smoother and better.” He told the CBC he believes municipalities are prepared to handle their responsibilities under the territory’s emergency plan.

Some other advocates support the work the NWT government has done since last year’s wildfire season.

“I can say with conviction this is a newer approach, a more refreshing approach than we’ve had to deal with in the past,” said Daryl Dolynny, president and chief executive officer of Avens.

“I think there’s been a reinvigoration of wanting to work with NGOs, realizing the value that we provide to these types of programs, especially preparedness.”

Both Avens and the Yellowknife Women’s Society released reports about Yellowknife’s evacuation that documented a perceived lack of engagement from officials and confusion about who was responsible for evacuating and supporting vulnerable residents. Dolynny said the evacuation cost Avens nearly $1.4 million.

Dolynny said it is now clear that the territorial government would take responsibility for Avens residents if there were another full-scale evacuation of Yellowknife.

“I believe we’re in a much better position than we were a year ago,” he said.

Dolynny said there are still questions about the division of responsibilities between non-governmental organizations and the city. He said he looks forward to the city’s review of the 2023 wildfire season.

‘I should have gone in sooner’

There have been recent emergencies where the territory’s emergency management system seemingly broke down.

People in the South Slave region and several Dene leaders have called for a public inquiry into how the 2023 wildfire season was handled. Leaders in Enterprise, which was almost completely destroyed by fire, have been particularly critical of the territorial government.

When Yellowknife was evacuated last summer, the city and territorial governments were heavily criticized for a lack of clear communication and planning. Some Indigenous governments have said they were not involved in emergency planning and coordination.

The updated territorial emergency plan states Indigenous governments that aren’t the designated local authority are “encouraged to work with the local authority and participate” in local emergency management.

Relations between the city and NWT government also appeared to break down during the evacuation. The municipality and Yellowknives Dene First Nation announced residents’ re-entry date on social media, without the support of the territory, late on the Friday before a long weekend. The NWT government hastily convened a press conference the following night to answer questions and provide more information.

Prior to last year’s fires, the NWT government was criticized for not intervening sooner when the Dehcho region experienced flooding in 2021.

Paulie Chinna, then the communities minister, said the territory did not act sooner as communities initially said they did not need support. After travelling to Fort Simpson, however, she said there were areas in which the local emergency response was lacking.

“I should have gone in a lot earlier [but communities] didn’t want the minister to come in at that time,” she said following the visit.

A review of the 2021 flood response found several areas for improvement, including how staff are trained and staff resources managed, how critical supplies reach communities, and how evacuees with mental health and addiction needs are looked after.

That review also noted communication issues and contrasted the government’s review of its response with the way some residents had perceived it.

Simona Rosenfield contributed reporting.