Like most of the families that had to evacuate, we hemmed and hawed until the last minute about what we were going to do. We considered driving south, but we had no idea where to go. We thought about buying plane tickets, but the expense was way too much for our family of five. In a moment of sleepless clarity in the middle of the night before we left, my wife and I decided that it was best if we evacuated to Lutsel K’e by boat.
In retrospect, this was the best decision we could have made. Having lived for many years in Lutsel K’e, we have many friends there that we consider family. Along with many others who evacuated to the community, we were welcomed with open arms. The community provided many meals and organized entertainment for evacuees: feasts, traditional games, a fishing derby, and more. Harvesters shared their catch with everyone, often posting on social media that meat and fish was available for anyone who wanted some — just bring a bag and fill it up!
The spirit of togetherness and sharing that is the best of our communities was really on display.
Our few weeks in Lutsel K’e also highlighted the fact that the decision to evacuate Yellowknife was made with no consideration for the repercussions to the surrounding communities, Lutsel K’e included. Nearly all food, medical, and financial services to these communities flows through Yellowknife. With Yellowknife empty, critical supply and transportation lines were broken.
The first impact was that local airlines suspended their operations the day the evacuation notice was announced. Many Lutsel K’e residents were stranded in Yellowknife, unable to get home. Most of these were forced to evacuate south at great personal expense.
After a few days, shelves in the only store in Lutsel K’e quickly emptied. With no way to get groceries in through Yellowknife, chartered flights from Edmonton were organized to bring in necessary food at 10 times the normal price. If it wasn’t for the active harvesting and sharing in the community (as well as trade in home-baked goods), people would have gone hungry.
The start of school was delayed by weeks as teachers had no way to get into the community. Students who were scheduled to attend college in the south were stuck in Lutsel K’e. Charters direct to Alberta were organized to get them to their schools, but again only at great expense and effort. People with critical medical conditions and needed prescriptions were mostly out of luck — treatments were delayed and medications missed.
My experience in Lutsel K’e made it clear to me that Yellowknife thought mostly only of itself when it decided to do a wholesale and sudden city evacuation. In the panic, little consideration was given to how important this city is to many of the other communities in the NWT. Doctors, grocers, dentists, pilots, pharmacists and the like — these are essential workers not just for the people of Yellowknife, but for the whole NWT. Let’s not repeat this mistake again; future evacuation plans will have to consider how the city can safely maintain a level of service to surrounding communities.
If it weren’t for the resilience of places like Lutsel K’e, these evacuations could have had far greater negative impacts in neighboring communities. Luckily, these communities have really been through it over the past couple of generations, and they know how to come together during the worst of times.
It is this strength of community that defines the NWT, and my family and I were fortunate to be part of the story this time around.