Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act show the confusion in the hours before the August 2023 evacuation order forced residents to leave Yellowknife, which was then threatened by wildfires.
Just 40 minutes before the territorial government issued the evacuation order on August 16, 2023, a director in the Northwest Territories capital city sent an email to the territorial government requesting information on where evacuees should go and who they could turn to for help.
This email is part of internal documents that shed light on the confusion and chaos that reigned at the time.
The coordination of the evacuation between the territorial government, the City of Yellowknife, the federal government and the Canadian Armed Forces is recounted in these documents, emails and briefing notes obtained by CBC/Radio-Canada.
Calls for help
On August 17, Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Alty pleaded with Defense Minister Bill Blair for more resources to coordinate the evacuation.
More help on the ground is needed for logistics [des personnes pour inscrire les passagers]she writes.
I hope that you and the minister [territorial Shane] Thompson will be able to work together quickly to mobilize people to support the registration of evacuees so they can leave by air as quickly as possible, she adds.
“We can’t let bureaucracy slow us down right now,” says Rebecca Alty, Mayor of Yellowknife
Rebecca Alty reiterated this request to the territorial government.
According to what Minister Blair said, the military can deploy an airlift operation within two hours of his order. Are you going to demand it now? We need it, she writes.
Crowded evacuation centers
The documents also reveal that Alberta had difficulty meeting the needs of NWT evacuees, especially after the evacuation order was issued for the community of Hay River and surrounding areas on August 13.
Alberta has indicated it cannot accept that volume of evacuees until a new location is determined, so we will need to confirm with them before sending any, wrote Bobby Bourque, South Slave representative for the territory’s Emergency Management Organization.
Emails sent on August 16 showed that the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, Alberta, was crowded, making evacuations even more complicated.
We will not be able to coordinate new flights until another evacuation center is established in Alberta, writes Ian Legaree, then head of the NWT Emergency Management Organization.
The hospital almost ceased operations
According to the documents, there was confusion surrounding access to supplies and health care for essential workers who remained in Yellowknife during the evacuation.
Sheila Bassi-Kellett, then city manager, wrote on August 17, 2023 that contractors busy building fire lines needed confirmation that there would be provisions for their workers.
The territorial government also asked the federal government on August 17 for military paramedic support to keep the emergency room at Stanton Territorial Hospital operational.
Territorial government employee Sonya Saunders said the government has requested that a field hospital be deployed to Yellowknife “as quickly as possible for an initial period of two weeks, with the possibility of extension.”
We really need it, because [l’Hôpital] Stanton said he plans to close tomorrow and that wildfire services cannot continue without trauma services.
The federal government refused the request, after confirming with the Department of Health and Social Services that a plan had been established to ensure the continuity of health care services.
With information from Luke Carroll
Read also :
