Territorial leadership accepted 26 of the 35 recommendations made in a third party action review of 2023’s wildfire season, rejecting over one quarter of the recommendations. Today, GNWT leadership formally announced their response to the independent review of how the 2023 wildfires were handled.
The 2023 wildfires were referred to as “the most devastating” wildfire season recorded, seeing nearly 70 per cent of the territory evacuated or displaced.
Over 4.16 million hectares burned in 304 fires during the 2023 wildfire season, making it the “driest, most destructive wildfire season on record for the region,” said the researchers behind the report. Tragically, a firefighter lost their life in the line of duty. Most of the population of the territory was impacted and many communities are still in the process of healing from the trauma of what happened.
Communities across the territory endured a devastating 2023 wildfire season, which has had traumatic impacts on people living in the region, first responders and other community leaders.
The rationale behind the decisions by GNWT leadership, was made public today at a press conference in Yellowknife and in a document posted on the GNWT website this afternoon.
In June 2024, an organization called Transitional Solutions Inc was contracted to review the emergency response to the wildfires and evacuations of 2023. The review, known as the 2023 Emergency Response After-Action Review, was issued in May of this year and in it, the researchers made a number of recommendations.
Some of the major recommendations put forward were for the GNWT to have a more co-ordinated system during emergencies, to establish an emergency management team and to partner closely with Indigenous governments.
GNWT leaders including Premier RJ Simpson attended as Minister of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, along with Minister Vince McKay, minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Garry Brennan, who is the deputy minister of public affairs, Sonya Sauders, assistant deputy minister of planning and community affairs, Michelle Pond, GNWT’s head of emergency management and Margaret Lovely, director of municipal and community affairs.
Territory leaders in attendance said that they had planned to release the formal response over the summer, but were delayed by the wildfire emergencies and evacuations over the summer.
In a joint statement, GNWT leaders said the formal response to the recommendations calls for stronger community support, clearer roles and training for responders, improved communication systems, updated evacuation planning and expanded mental health supports.
The territorial leaders presented their response to the recommendations, which included implementing a more co-ordinated system during emergencies, establishing an emergency management agency (a recommendation they rejected) and partnering closely with Indigenous governments.
Minister McKay justified the decision to not establish an emergency management agency,Remove featured image citing a concern about “flexibility” and on the availability of staff.
“Personnel, people that are trained in this. They want to work, they want to do things and they want to be involved in making decisions on emergency management.”
Minister McKay said that currently an independent organization already exists that functions like an agency.
“The way we operate now, we essentially have an independent organisation within an organisation and I think it’s more efficient, more appropriate to have the flexibility of having that organisation within to stand up workers as needed, to assign different roles within the organisation to assist when an emergency is stood up.”
McKay said that the way the emergency management operates now in the territory, there is built in “flexibility” which may not be possible if they form a new emergency management agency in its place.
“You don’t necessarily know the people that you’re going to need, when it comes time to an emergency, whether it be a territorial emergency or a local emergency until it’s actually happening. So when it comes down to a standalone organisation, the way we’re situated now, in regards to an EMO organisation within Municipal and Community Affairs we have that flexibility of staffing.”
McKay added that he could not say for sure whether it would make sense to go ahead to establish an agency.
“Whereas my concern would be as somebody who is in the background of emergency services, I don’t know if we would get that staffing level. I don’t, honestly if we would be able to track those people to work in that organisation.”
Minister McKay said that he felt the territory proved their ability to respond to emergencies during the 2025 wildfire season, without the formation of a new agency.
GNWT leaders also outlined the recommendations that are currently underway including the delivery of Community Emergency Planning Workshops and tabletop exercises in 21 NWT communities, expanded training on the Incident Command System for GNWT staff and hiring regional emergency coordinator positions to provide direct support to community governments.
Minister Vince McKay acknowledged the importance of frontline emergency responders to inform the review.
“Community governments and frontline responders are the backbone of emergency response, and we are working closely with them to put these lessons learned into action. With stronger planning, clearer roles, and closer collaboration with community governments and Indigenous governments, we are building a system residents can trust when it matters most. The GNWT will keep listening, learning, and improving our response with every emergency we face.”
In their response to the recommendations, GNWT leadership said they did not seek to engage specifically with first responders but plan to do so more so in the future.
Garry Brennan, who is the deputy minister of public affairs, told True North FM that while GNWT leadership did not engage with first responders specifically to assess the recommendations, they engaged at some level with territorial emergency management.
Brennan pointed out that through ongoing working groups, they plan to continue to engage with community members and leaders.
“The after action review was reviewed by an interdepartmental workgroup. So every department of the GNWT had a member on that group. A lot of those members were members of our territorial emergency management organisations who’ve been working on their team for a number of years for their department, so because this was a you know I guess a confidential process up until now we didn’t actually consult with external parties,” said Brennan.
Brennan told True North FM that the territory plans to consult more closely with emergency response leadership and those on the front lines as time goes by to assess the effectiveness of emergency response.
Community working groups are also being consulted and will continue to be consulted.
“We also have another working group with communities, so, N.W.T. communities that are actually, the local authorities under the Act who are in charge of local emergencies and we’re working with them as well to review this system,” said Brennan.
In their joint statement, territory leaders said that they are continuing to discuss the Emergency Management Act with Indigenous and community governments, and they are aiming to align the Disaster Assistance Policy with current federal disaster recovery programming.
“As a part of the reviews we set up some working groups, we set up one more group with the NWT Council of leaders,” said Brennan.
“Doing some work with those individuals and those groups on viewing the emerging management plan and the Emergency Management Act, our role is to engage with Indigenous leaders,” added Brennan.
Brennan said the territory is trying to embed traditional Indigenous knowledge into the government’s systems.
