Leaders across the territory are calling for emergency management reforms including a more direct channel of government support and assistance for those who were denied insurance.
Community leaders and representatives joined the session hosted by the NWT Association of Communities’ at the Chateau Nova hotel on Friday. The session was 30 minutes long and was part of a three day annual general meeting in the city of Yellowknife. Minister Eleanor Olszewski, federal minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience, joined the session virtually.
Olszewski acknowledged that wildfires and floods are increasing in intensity. The minister also acknowledged that Northern and remote communities in particular have struggled in dealing with the losses from wildfires and flooding.
“Things are more severe. Things are more intense in terms of fires and flooding and so I really would like to hear from you about what our federal role should be and how we can better help your communities,” said Olszewski.
Hay River Councillor Robert Bouchard said when it comes to disaster relief, messaging across different levels of government can become “convoluted.”
“It would be nice to have a single window where you can talk on the issues that we’re dealing with.”
Bouchard explained that when it comes to emergency management overall, it has been difficult to go through different layers of government.
“There’s a multi level that we have to deal with disaster relief federally. We’re not dealing with it directly. We’re down through the territorial government, which sometimes the messaging between the territorial government and the federal government gets convoluted. So I mean in streamlining that discussion would be nice and hearing it from one single voice.”
Bouchard added that amid the confusion, people have had to make difficult decisions on whether to rebuild.
“In Hay River, we have land issues where people have decided not to rebuild, rebuild somewhere else, or buy a different property,” said Bouchard.
“Now those lands are sitting empty and it’s I want to say we’re not allowed to develop on them. We’ve had been forced to sign an MOU that we won’t develop on them,” he added.
Bouchard said that as a result the town has a “shrinking” tax base, with about 20 properties involved.
Mayor Vince Teddy of Tuktoyaktuk said when a storm surge hit the community, they had to do the cleanup and the restoration on their own.
“When I say on our own, I mean the Inivaluit helped us, the contractors in the community, the Hamlet of Tuk, the hunters and trappers committee. We all pitched in together to do the best we could and make the community as safe as possible following the storm surge.”
Teddy said a shared platform is a good beginning, adding that a dialogue” is really needed.
“A one window is good but also a dialogue. I don’t know why we have to send in a letter saying, “state of emergency” when we did have a conversation already prior to that and us—and when I say us I mean the Hamlet of Tuk, the community of Tuk, the residents. I’ve been informed from the premier and Minister saying, we’ll follow up with you after the storm surge.”
Mayor Teddy said that the community is still in the process of trying to resolve the issue.
Deputy Mayor Kathy Tsetso of Fort Simpson said the community is finding the fire season is almost year round.
“The community of Fort Simpson experienced the fire about 20 kilometres on the other side of the Liard River and it was still noticed to be smoking and burning into November,” said Tsetso.
While local fire crews typically start the season in mid May and end mid August, during the 2025 wildfire season they were out working into mid September, explained Tsetso.
“There’s been discussion around the community and not by politicians perhaps, but by the community members that maybe the fire Crews should be year round, they have a purpose and could be utilised. So the funding for those Crews of course goes through environment climate change Department but I’m wondering if additional funding could be given to the community so that those firefighters are contracted like ours, like in Fort Providence.”
Ɂek’wahtı̨dǝ́ Danny Gaudet of Délı̨nę pointed out that what communities are experiencing in the North is happening across the country. Gaudet suggested that a federal plan could include the territories and provinces under one plan.
“There’s got to be a master territorial plan that ties us all together somehow when it’s time to respond to emergencies.”
Gaudet said that it has been difficult to find funding for communities who help assist evacuees.
“It becomes very difficult to feed them and look after them. We’ve been successful at it, but the problem is 1995 and Tulita had their fire we got a thank you, we got a plaque, [but] they, never gave us any money to to look after anybody and it still seems to be a struggle today to try to get funds to, to look after displaced people in the North”
Gaudet pointed to the concern of lowering water levels across the territory, including the record level lows of Great Bear Lake saw in 2025.
“If you look at the environment right now, water levels are dropping all over including the inland lakes and Great Bear Lake. Great Bear Lake went down 2 feet in one year and that’s a massive lake. You start seeing that maybe we might not have the waters that we need on the inland lakes to fight fires. We need to start preparing and understanding what’s happening with all the water that might not be available for us to fight fires,” said Gaudet.
“We have been told that these natural disasters will continue and get worse just because of the fact that we aren’t drying up. When I, when I think about that, I also think about, you know, the people at home, and their communities where they have natural fires, the disasters at home, near or in the community or burn some of the infrastructure. Enterprise as an example,” added Gaudet.
Gaudet touched on the ways that people and families are bearing heavy financial loss and being denied insurance.
“I hear stories after the fact that a lot of these people had lost their homes, didn’t have insurance, and they don’t have a home now. And, I think, you know, the federal government should look at how are they going to replace homes or infrastructure for members of communities that are at loss what they invested in in their life.It seems to be here in the North we’re simply telling people that ‘you don’t have insurance too bad.’ You can barely get insurance nowadays for natural disasters— if you can’t get it but if you do it’s too expensive. The federal government needs to pay a bigger role in trying to making sure that If something happens, people’s properties, they’re getting aid,” said Gaudet.
“The reality is that it’s needed and we’re leaving people high and dry without the ability to rebuild,” added Gaudet.
Mayor Dana Fergusson of Fort Smith agreed with Gaudet that many of the people who were denied insurance are older adults who have lost their homes and with it their main source of life savings.
Fergusson also pointed out that communities like Fort Smith need to have more than one exit route in case of wildfire emergencies.
“Fort Smith, we’re way down the corner of the Northwest Territories, Alberta border and we need another way out. We don’t have one— another way to get to safety or another community other than the one to Hay River or High Level to receive us.”
Olszewski expressed agreement with a number of the suggestions including the need to make communication simpler.
The minister said that insurance is “quite complicated” and the federal government is plans to offer an update in the next “couple” of months.
“What I can tell you from a flood insurance perspective, is that my department is working on a national Insurance program, and it would apply to the people that are unable to get insurance,” said Olszewski.
The minister said that “complications” to access funding have posed obstacles for people from jurisdictions across the country.
“I’ve heard that multiple times that it’s too complicated and that when people are trying to get funding once a response or once the emergency has occurred, sometimes just the paperwork that’s necessary it’s just really out of proportion with what you can expect.”
Olszewski acknowledged that Northern and remote communities in particular have struggled in dealing with the losses from wildfires and flooding.
The minister said the federal government is looking at potentially creating an agency that would work directly with jurisdictions.
“One of the things we’re looking at is an agency and that would be a bit of a one stop window. And it would enable us to deal with a lot of the concerns, you’ve raised, I think in a more collaborative, and in a more cooperative way. So that we can better co-ordinate with territories, municipalities, First Nations communities.”
She said that there could be some changes to how preplanning will happen.
“One of the things that I was discussing with a couple of the provinces that says, is the idea for a preplanned evacuation centre where you choose somewhere safe that is suitable for neighbouring communities. And you know where that place is and make sure that there’s adequate housing and supports there so that if an incident does occur, there is somewhere, where people are already expecting people to come.”
Olszewski said that this strategy is in the planning phases and the department is looking into how that could work for the North.
“One the problems we got into the last wildfire season is sending people to communities where they did not feel at home. Communities that were not culturally appropriate where people did not feel safe. And this is absolutely one of the things that we need to fix in terms of evacuations.”
Olszewski, said the government is also trying to “improve and support” workforce organizations like the United Way NWT, to help people when they’re “drastically affected” by emergencies.
Olszewski said that the federal government has already made some changes that will provide territories along with provinces access to more wildfire response equipment.
“Through the recent budget, we invested more than 300 million to bolster our aerial and ground fighting capabilities. And so, we’ll be using waterbombers and we will be able to use those water bombers to help provinces and territories, when their systems are overwhelmed.
The minister said that updates to emergency management will take place take over the “next couple of months.”
A public engagement portal was opened on the Public Safety website in November.
Olszewski said anyone who would like to provide feedback or questions can go to the public safety website or email her office directly
“We’re really looking forward to getting input from as many people across the country as possible.”
