The MLA for Fort Resolution says he is concerned about third-party management of the hamlet after several homes were destroyed by fire over the weekend.
A territorially appointed administrator has been running Fort Resolution, rather than a mayor and council, since last summer.
Richard Edjericon, the MLA for Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh, has been critical of whether the territory is providing adequate support to improve the community’s capacity to respond to fires.
He again raised concerns in the legislature on Monday that Fort Resolution does not yet have an emergency plan.
“We just don’t want a repeat of what happened in Enterprise,” he said, referring to extensive damage to that community from a wildfire in August 2023.
Community affairs minister Vince McKay said Fort Resolution’s emergency plan is “continually being worked on,” with a draft expected to be complete early next month.
The cause of Saturday’s fire, which destroyed two duplexes containing a total of four homes, is not yet clear. RCMP said on Monday an investigation was being led by the Office of the Fire Marshal.
NWT Fire sent a wildfire crew and helicopter to help firefighters in Fort Resolution.
Specific to Saturday’s fire, McKay said a water tanker truck was brought in from Hay River to support firefighting efforts after problems with Fort Resolution’s water intake lines.
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He said the territory planned to work with the community to look at a “fire flow bypass” along with other options to get water from the lake during emergencies.
Edjericon said one firefighter broke a hip and another is experiencing breathing problems as a result of the fire. He asked what supports were in place for those people.
McKay said his department would assist the hamlet administrator in reviewing insurance coverage.
Edjericon also asked housing minister Lucy Kuptana whether the duplexes destroyed in Fort Resolution could be replaced with stick-built homes.
“The chief in Fort Resolution made it very clear over the years that they really don’t want to have any trailers brought into the community, because it doesn’t provide jobs or economic benefits to the local business,” he said.
Kuptana said while she understands the chief’s point of view, Housing NWT is facing “a fiscal crisis” and modular units are more affordable and efficient.
“We don’t have the money to build homes,” she said, adding the housing corporation plans to look at a building standards framework next year. Hopefully, she said, the community’s concerns can be part of that discussion.
Kuptana said Fort Resolution has vacant units that can accommodate the families displaced by the recent fire.
Ollie Williams contributed reporting.
