Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to arrive in his hometown of Fort Smith on Wednesday morning, beginning a short visit to the NWT for the first time since becoming Canada’s leader.
Carney spent the first six years of his life in Fort Smith.
According to the Office of the Prime Minister, Carney will meet with Fort Smith families alongside Premier RJ Simpson on Wednesday morning “to discuss affordability challenges and food insecurity.”
He will then “meet with local community leaders to discuss the impact of wildfires in the Northwest Territories.”
Fort Smith was evacuated for a month in 2023 because of multiple nearby wildfires that dramatically changed the landscape around the community. Some buildings and animals were lost.
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Carney then travels to Inuvik for a meeting with Inuit leaders on Thursday, where Canada’s new nation-building legislation – and its impact on Indigenous consultation – is likely to be on the agenda.
Arriving on Wednesday evening, Carney is set to visit a community centre in Inuvik, his office said, with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Natan Obed and Inuvialuit Regional Corporation Chair Duane Ningaqsiq Smith.
Multiple federal ministers are also in the NWT this week.
Environment minister Julie Dabrusin signed a deal advancing hundreds of millions of dollars in conservation funding in Yellowknife on Monday.
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Crown-Indigenous relations minister and NWT MP Rebecca Alty, Indigenous services minister Mandy Gull-Masty and CanNor’s minister, Rebecca Chartrand, are all expected in the territory for Carney’s visit and other matters.
Updates follow from Wednesday’s Fort Smith visit and the trip to Inuvik.
