Advertisement.
The NWT government says it won’t release its formal response to a review of GNWT actions during the 2023 wildfire season while 2025’s fires are still a threat.
In 2023, Yellowknife, Hay River, Fort Smith, Behchokǫ̀ and multiple other NWT communities were evacuated because of wildfires. That summer, more than two-thirds of the territory’s population came under evacuation orders.
Most of the hamlet of Enterprise was destroyed by a fire in August that year. The community is still early in the recovery process.
An independent examination of the territory’s response to the 2023 wildfires – known as an after-action review – looked at issues like how evacuations, communication and financial supports were handled. The results were published in May.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
The reviewers said the NWT needs its own year-round emergency management agency and Indigenous governments need to be full partners in that.
They recommended more training for elected officials and key staff in the Incident Command System, or ICS, which is a nationwide standard for communicating internally and making decisions during emergencies.
NWT Alert – the system used for emergency messages to residents in the territory – can be improved, the review found, among many more recommendations.
Much of the report documented the confusion, lack of planning and trauma that many people who lived through 2023’s wildfire summer would immediately recognize.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
At the time, Premier RJ Simpson said his government would “reserve further comment” until it prepared a formal response for release later in the summer.
More: 90-second summary of the NWT’s 2023 after-action review
Cabin Radio followed up this week, asking when the GNWT’s response would be published.
“GNWT efforts are currently focused on responding to the active emergency events and communicating with residents about those events. The safety of our residents, communities and emergency responders is our number one priority,” Department of Municipal and Community Affairs spokesperson Alice Twa responded.
Two communities began the month under evacuation orders. Residents of those communities, Whatì and Fort Providence, have only just been cleared to go home.
A third community, Jean Marie River, is on evacuation alert. NWT Fire’s website states 101 fires are still burning, more than 80 of them out of control, though many are far from any communities and don’t pose an immediate threat.
“Once residents have returned to their communities and the threat of wildfire has been abated, we will proceed with the release of the GNWT’s response,” Twa wrote in an email on Thursday.
“This is expected to be in the coming weeks, and the date will be announced in advance once established.”
Twa concluded that the GNWT “remains committed to improving the territorial emergency response systems, practices and partnerships.”
Emily Blake contributed reporting.
