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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.
The current fire bans have been extended for all public and private lands in both the North Slave and the South Slave Regions.
These bans are effective through September 22 and may be extended if necessary. They apply to following communities and on the land:
North Slave:
South Slave:
Municipal and Community Affairs Minister Shane Thompson issued the following statement today:
“The City of Yellowknife and the Yellowknives Dene First Nation have announced a tentative date and time of 12:00 PM Wednesday, September 6, 2023 for residents to begin returning to Dettah, N’Dilo and Yellowknife. The GNWT is looking forward to welcoming residents home and is working to ensure that a basic level of service and support is available for residents when they arrive.
YELLOWKNIFE (September 1, 2023)– The current fire bans have been extended for all public and private lands in both the North Slave and the South Slave Regions.
These bans are effective through September 15 and may be extended if necessary. They apply to following communities and on the land:
North Slave:
South Slave:
Media is invited to receive an update on the wildfire situation in the Northwest Territories, the ongoing response to the wildfires, and resulting evacuations.
Premier Caroline Cochrane, Minister Shane Thompson, Minister Julie Green, a representative from the City of Yellowknife and program experts from several GNWT departments will be available to answer questions.
DATE: Tuesday, August 15, 2023
TIME: 7 p.m. MST
LOCATION: Virtual (Microsoft Teams)
Please RSVP by 6 p.m. to receive the link to the meeting.
Media is invited to receive an update on the wildfire situation in the Northwest Territories, the ongoing response to the wildfires, and resulting evacuations.
Premier Caroline Cochrane, Minister Shane Thompson and program experts from multiple Government of the Northwest Territories departments as well as representatives from NorthwesTel and Northwest Territories Power Corporation will be available to answer questions.
DATE: Monday, August 14, 2023
TIME: 4 p.m. MST
LOCATION: Virtual (Microsoft Teams)
The Government of Canada is providing assistance to support the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) with wildfire and emergency response management during this unprecedented wildfire season.
Current fire bans for all public and private lands in both the North Slave and South Slave Regions have been extended.
These bans are effective through August 18, 2023 and may be extended if necessary. They apply to following communities and on the land:
North Slave:
South Slave:
