De Beers Group has announced a $250,000 funding initiative to aid in the wildfire recovery efforts in NWT and B.C through its Anglo American Foundation.
The funding, announced on Sept. 20, is a combination of $200,000 donated to the United Way NWT Emergency Response Fund and $50,000 given to United Way British Columbia for the B.C. Wildfire Recovery Fund.
The money is intended to support recovery and protection and prevention efforts in the two jurisdictions, adding to a previous donation of $70,000 by De Beers for NWT relief earlier this year.
“The funding aligns with our value of ‘show we care,’ and will help establish and support a culture of resilience and safety that will assist people and communities recover from the disastrous wildfires and possibly help prevent similar situations from happening in the future,” said Moses Madondo, managing director of De Beers Group managed operations.
Kelly Brenton, social performance manager with De Beers, stated that the funding to United Way is intended to help communities rebound by assisting individuals in need of food security and supporting local charities to re-establish services.
“Whether it’s a women’s shelter or counselling services or food program, local schools, rebuilding of infrastructure loss, also prevention initiatives, as well (to) support communities who want to continue to put prevention measures in place, whether it’s creating fire breaks or training,” Brenton said of possible examples.
Jacq Brasseur, wildfire response coordinator for United Way NWT, said the general fund is open to any community organizations, First Nations or municipality outside of Yellowknife to address impacts of the wildfires of evacuation.
“We continue to review (applications) and we get applications every day from organizations and groups across the territories seeking financial support to help evacuees in their communities,” said Brasseur. “So we respond to them as fast as we can, and we are confident that the funding from De Beers will be put to good use.”
Brasseur also encourages residents of Enterprise, which sustained catastrophic damage, to reach out to local organizations that can access the support that United Way might offer.
According to United Way, more than $1.5 million has been distributed so far to reception centres, women’s shelters, youth centres, local governments, Indigenous governments and other organizations. The figure covers from the beginning of the 2023 fire season in May until Aug. 19.
The Anglo American Foundation is a charitable organization that operates independently and is financed by Anglo American PLC. This entity holds an 85 per cent stake in De Beers Group.
According to NWT Fire data, there have been close to 300 wildfires in the territory this year affecting more than four million hectares and displacing approximately two-thirds of the population across the NWT.
De Beers hindered
During the evacuation order, virtually all businesses were impacted in some way, including the Gahcho Kue diamond mine operated by De Beers Group. The evacuation forced 34 per cent of the company’s workforce living in Yellowknife, Hay River and the Fort Smith area to pause. This had an impact on production and transportation capabilities, according to Terry Kruger, a senior communications officer with De Beers Group.
Kruger mentioned that De Beers understands this could be a challenging time for affected employees. The company tried to help its workers get to evacuation centres in Alberta to join their families.
“We allowed people to leave the mine and arranged charter flights for them to go home to Hay River or Yellowknife and be with their families when they evacuated and when they were returning home,” said Kruger. “We put on a couple of special flights and allowed people to leave the mine, go back to Alberta to be with their families.”
He added that De Beers provided emergency leave for employees who evacuated so they wouldn’t have to take their regular vacation, sick time or unpaid leave.
“We wanted to do as much as we could to accommodate and recognize the challenges of the situation,” said Kruger.
The ability to get cargo in and out of the mine during the wildfire crisis proved challenging for the diamond mining company.
“So all of that had to be flown out of Edmonton. Typically, most of the material we bring into the mine on a regular basis is trucked and then flown to the mine from Yellowknife… with the Yellowknife Airport closed, you’re flying over double the distance, a significant cost to the operation,” Kruger said.