With the City of Yellowknife and the Yellowknives Dene having announced a return date of Wednesday, Sept. 6 for citizens, Minister Shane Thompson quickly urged Northerners not to come home any sooner and discouraged South Slave residents not to head to Yellowknife.
“We ask residents to stay where they are until the evacuation order is lifted on Wednesday. This will help make re-entry safer and more organized,” stated Thompson, who oversees the Municipal and Community Affairs portfolio. “Please do not travel back toward the NWT-Alberta border until Wednesday, September 6. No supports are available in northern Alberta for residents considering moving North to wait for the order to be lifted.”
Thompson acknowledged that residents of Hay River, Fort Smith, Kakisa, K’atl’odeeche First Nation and Enterprise remain displaced.
“We continue actively fighting the fires outside of your communities to get you home as soon as it is safe,” Thompson stated. “Evacuees from these South Slave communities are asked to remain where they are rather than travel to Yellowknife. Given the limited services that will be available in the City as residents return, no supports will be available in the form of evacuation centres or accommodations for evacuees from other communities in Yellowknife.”
The GNWT will hold a press conference on Saturday at 4 p.m. to provide residents with information about:
-how to plan to travel home safely after the evacuation order has been lifted;
-the level of GNWT services, including health services, that will be available as of the re-entry date;
-risks and other considerations that residents will want to evaluate when deciding when to return home;
-the process to register for flights home for those that require them; and
-the supports that will remain available in Alberta to NWT residents who can’t return home yet because of health concerns; and
-the limited services available in Yellowknife.