Gwich’in Tribal Council is offering support for participants displaced by the wildfires in Yellowknife as well as the North and South Slave and Dehcho regions.
Enterprise, Fort Smith, Behchoko, Jean Marie River, K’atlodeeche First Nation N’ilo, Dettah, Ingraham Trail, and Yellowknife remain on evacuation order. The community of Kakisa is under evacuation alert and the city of Inuvik is under evacuation notice.
Gwich’in Tribal Council Grand Chief Ken Kyikavichik said beneficiaries can apply for $500 per adult and $125 per dependent. He also asked participants to be patient as the GTC processes claims.
“Well it was another eventful day and night in the NWT,” he said in a Facebook post to his group Kenny Kyikavichik - GTC Grand Chief on Aug. 17. “I hope all that have started to evacuate from the Yellowknife area are safely making their way south and out of harms way.
“We have had some unexpected technical challenges with the EFT’s that prevented these funds from being transferred yesterday. We expect this to be sorted this morning and the transfers for Old Crow, Fort Smith and Hay River can begin. Please bear with us as this is a new process for us to transfer electronic payments for emergency benefits to our individual Participants. We also have hundreds of individual payments to process, which is very unusual for our organization, so it will take some time but we are working as quickly as we can to verify and register your information and work with our financial institutions to process these payments.
“Please keep safe everyone and be sure to check in on your loved ones from time to time.
“Adik’anootih.”
Although the announcement says assistance is available for beneficiaries displaced by the forest fires in Fort Smith, Hay River and Enterprise, as well as the Yukon communities of Old Crow and Mayo, Yukon, the GTC has confirmed with the Inuvik Drum funding is available for any participant displaced by the wildfires.
“One $500 payment for each enrolled adult Participant (18+)and one $125 payment for each enrolled dependent residing in the affected communities based on the current GTC enrollment list. ID (such as) NWT or Yukon Drivers’ License or GIC will be requested before providing the payment,” said the GTC in their announcement. “To apply, please contact: GTC Enrolment Co-ordinator Esther Ross-Kendi at enrolment@gwichintribal.ca or by phone at 867-490-0378.”