The GNWT laid out its new emergency preparedness plan earlier this month which could be summed up in four words: You’re on your own.
We knew that anyway, and it’s probably best that we don’t look to the government since last year’s evacuation was a disaster in itself.
The 70-page document essentially designates responsibilities for preparedness and management to other layers of government and the general public. If we read between the lines, it says people need to take care of their own property and meet their own expenses.
In other words, make sure your insurance is up to date.
Instead of being a plan that says ‘we’ve got your back’, it seems to say it won’t but that other levels of government should and so should you.
With fires already burning near Fort Smith and fire bans in at least two communities, it is evident that the North is headed for another bad year. We’ve known that since the evacuation ended last September. But we are far from prepared.
What this document got right was there was an almost total communication breakdown between the two main levels of government along with the general public. We were kept in the dark until it was too late. We remember well the wall of silence surrounding the city and the territorial government, except for regular updates from NWT Fire, which did its best to get the word out.
However, no one told us what we should do if the fire breached city limits, even when we could see the flames in the distance and were overpowered by smoke. The information was so sketchy that many thought (and were told) the plan was to scurry from one side of town to the other or head to the Multiplex. No official word came from any level of government.
We remember too well that most government employees evacuated before the public knew an evacuation would be called. That left us coughing in the dust from the government employees’ quick exit and now we have a plan that will be tossed out the window when push comes to shove. We don’t want a plan bogged down in who is responsible for what, we just want help.
There are jurisdictions where mass evacuations are coordinated by the RCMP who have the training and formalized action steps. We need to ask ourselves if they should play a larger role along with the military, who were a tremendous help last year and not after the crisis has occurred. We know the government can’t handle it but maybe these agencies can. It is likely that the public would feel safer and more confident knowing that these more efficient policing bodies were going to help and not governing bodies without the expertise.
We need to remember that last year, it was, in the end, people helping people that pulled us through. Except for firefighters who came from around the world to save the territory, it was everyday people who remained in the abandoned city to fire-smart the community, deal with trash, watch pets, maintain gardens and act as eyes for Yellowknife when few people were here to do that.
Indeed, most of our help came from everyday people like those in Fort Providence, who handed out lunch packs as we raced through.
These fires and the effects of climate change are exceeding the territorial government’s ability to respond. More than ever, we need a coordinated response with other emergency organizations and highly trained bodies such as the RCMP and military to pull us through. Is the GNWT and the city working with them now? Those bodies know they are responsible for every Canadian and they don’t bicker over who does what.
At the start of the new assembly, MLAs voted for an independent review of how the evacuation was handled last year. The GNWT balked and now we have an emergency plan which will mean little when we are in crisis mode.
Get ready, folks. Be prepared to help yourselves and each other because that is where the true help will come from. Northern spirit and community mindedness will be our saving grace once again.