The North is experiencing climate warming faster than anywhere in Canada, and residents, businesses and governments across the Northwest Territories (NWT) are answering this call to action. Today, the Departments of Environment and Climate Change (ECC) and Infrastructure (INF) are releasing annual reports on climate action, energy that outline progress made in the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
Climate change is impacting and altering landscapes, habitats and wildlife, which can have implications for the people and communities that rely on them. If you have ideas about adapting the territory’s wildlife management and conservation to a changing climate, the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) wants to hear from you.
As part of the Department of Environment and Climate Change’s annual engagement activities, forest managers across the Northwest Territories (NWT) are visiting communities in all regions to get input on wildfire management from Indigenous leaders, community governments and the public.
Work is underway to complete independent reviews of the 2023 wildfire season to gain a full understanding of the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) wildfire and emergency response.
The ultimate goals of these reviews are to improve our effectiveness as a government and ensure we have appropriate preparedness and response strategies in place going forward.
This work has two separate components:
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Mr. Speaker, the 2023 wildfire season was unlike anything we have ever seen in the Northwest Territories.
More than four million hectares of forest burned over a six-month period, with fires reported all the way from the Beaufort Delta to the South Slave. Record temperatures, drought and very high winds resulted in extreme fire behaviour that many of our most experienced firefighters had never experienced. At times, firefighting simply was not possible due to the life-threatening danger crews would face.
The attached is being distributed on behalf of the Conference of Management Authorities, c/o NWT Species at Risk Secretariat.
The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) has released a renewed workplan to advance protected areas and conservation areas in the territory.
Healthy Land, Healthy People has been updated to outline priorities and actions to guide the GNWT’s collaborative approach to identifying, establishing, and implementing protected areas and conservation areas – known as the Northwest Territories’ (NWT) conservation network.
The workplan outlines actions under five priorities:
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about this summer’s devastating wildfire season that affected a majority of Northwest Territories residents. Territorial emergencies began in May and ended in September and saw a total of 12 communities impacted and roughly 70% of all NWT residents evacuated from their communities.
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Mr. Speaker, today I would like to recognize this year’s historic wildfire season, the challenges faced by so many NWT residents and others across Canada, and the heroic efforts of firefighters and emergency management personnel to protect our communities.
Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) Minister Shane Thompson has once again renewed the Territorial State of Emergency that was originally declared on August 15, 2023 and renewed for a first time on August 29, 2023 due to the wildfire situation across multiple Northwest Territories (NWT) regions. The extended Territorial State of Emergency will be for the South Slave Region and will be in effect from September 19 until October 02, 2023.
