Some regular MLAs disappointed in GNWT’s 2023 response

Regular MLAs Shauna Morgan and Kieron Testart say they expected more from the territorial government’s response to a review of how it handled 2023’s wildfires and evacuations.

While the territory to some degree accepted 34 out of 35 recommendations in that review, one of the main recommendations – forming a standalone, year-round emergency managemeny agency – was rejected.

The GNWT said that kind of agency would be too costly, hard to staff, and only infrequently used given how rarely large-scale emergencies like those of 2023 take place.

“I’m disappointed with the GNWT response to the wildfire after-action report,” Range Lake MLA Testart stated on Thursday.

“A great deal of time and money went into crafting an expert opinion on how to improve our public safety systems, and there’s no reason to reject, partially agree or caveat any of these recommendations.

“The world is changing around us and natural disasters are the new normal. We can’t afford to gamble on the same approaches to problems that have failed us before.”

Morgan, the Yellowknife North MLA, said only a “huge shift” would restore NWT residents’ trust in the GNWT’s emergency management system.

“Seems like the GNWT is not fully appreciating the scale of shift needed,” Morgan wrote. “It will take more political pressure from me and my MLA colleagues in coming weeks.”

Testart said the territory needs a Department of Public Safety, a proposal he first raised in late 2023 while unsuccessfully running against RJ Simpson and others for the role of premier.

At the time, he said he would dissolve the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs if he were premier, replacing it in part with a department focused on public safety and emergency preparedness.

Existing system ‘has been working’

At the moment, the NWT relies on a system of local, regional and territorial emergency management organizations that pop up as needed and are staffed by people who ordinarily have other jobs.

While a review of 2023’s wildfires and evacuations by independent contractor Transitional Solutions Inc found that system had broken down at the height of the crisis, ministers insist it is the right system to build on – and more appropriate than a year-round agency.

Vince McKay, the NWT’s communities minister and a longtime Hay River-based firefighter, said that recommendation had immediately struck him as unworkable.

McKay argued a dedicated agency would offer too little for employees to do during the off-season, which he defined as the winter, saying there was “very little” chance of an emergency in those months.

“The way we operate now, we essentially have an independent organization within an organization,” he said, describing how the pop-up emergency management response sits within his Department of Municipal and Community Affairs.

“I think it’s more efficient, more appropriate, to have the flexibility of that organization within to stand up workers as needed.”

McKay said he was unsure the right staff could be attracted to a year-round emergency management agency in the NWT.

Even in a world where funding was not a concern and staff could be found, he said he was still not in favour of pursuing that form of agency, which had been one of the most transformative recommendations coming from the year-long review.

While other jurisdictions do have dedicated emergency management agencies, McKay said the NWT is smaller in terms of population and “the ability for us to stand up personnel to work in the time of need, during an emergency, has been working.”

“I think it’s going to work even more as we fine-tune our policies and procedures,” he said.

What did we learn from 2025?

Simpson, the premier, said “the structures are in place to do the work that needs to be done” once initiatives like better training and improved communication are rolled out – work that he said is already occurring.

Both Simpson and Maca deputy minister Gary Brennan pointed to this summer’s Whatì fire and GNWT collaboration with the Tłı̨chǫ Government and City of Yellowknife as examples of an improved way of working.

“The Tłı̨chǫ Government really stepped up and worked with the City of Yellowknife to perform some hosting services, which hasn’t been done before. We learned that these guys really have a strong role to play along with our other partners, the United Way and Salvation Army,” Brennan said.

Even so, the 2025 wildfire season still demonstrated some areas that need work, he added.

“Hotels seem to be an issue,” Brennan said.

“Fort Providence evacuated to Hay River this year and there just weren’t enough hotel rooms for people who probably could have used a hotel room. So that’s an issue that we’d like to try and improve.

“Obviously, we can’t build hotels, but it’s something that’s been identified.”