Yellowknife's mayor says that city did not ask territory to trigger evacuation
CBC
Yellowknife's mayor said, as far as she knows, concerns about staffing at Yellowknife's evacuation centre were not related to the territorial decision to evacuate the community of 22,000 last month.
This comes after Minister Shane Thompson told CBC Trailbreaker host Hilary Bird, earlier this week, that the territory started planning the evacuation of Yellowknife after the city came forward to say that they could not run the shelter-in-place plan without staff from the territory.
"They asked us what we were going to do, how we could work together collaboratively, to get the residents out of there," he said.
Mayor Rebecca Alty told CBC that the city never asked the GNWT to evacuate Yellowknife, only to help with a possible evacuation plan. She says that the communication plan Thompson is referring to was probably a written communication that her administration sent to the territorial government on Aug. 15.
"On Tuesday, we reached out to say, we need support for an evacuation reception centre here in Yellowknife… as well as looking at if there is a community-wide evacuation needed, we should begin planning on that," she explained.
According to Alty, the city also requested more support for the city's emergency operations centre, and for municipal firefighters in the same communication.
Alty confirmed that the city did hear from the territory's emergency management department before Tuesday that the Department of Health and Social Services might have difficulty staffing the evacuation centre. But she said that she wasn't concerned, because the EMO confirmed that it would find other staff who could work at the evacuation centre.
"The territorial government was working, and that's why the evacuation centre was set up here in Yellowknife. We didn't have concerns that they wouldn't be able to deliver," she said.
She also said that she is confident that, if fire conditions had been different, the city would have been able to carry out its shelter-in-place plan.
"We work with the territorial government on that, and if the territory hadn't been able to find the resources within the GNWT, then they go and ask at the federal level," she said.
"I didn't have concerns that the city, the territorial, or the national government wasn't going to be able to come through on this. It was going to happen."
If you're talking to a scientist, try not to use the words "bear" and "hibernate" in the same sentence.
A celebrated Korean-Canadian artist has been behind decades of Christmastime mall Santa photos in eastern Newfoundland.
Instructions given to Susan Holt's staff reveal efforts to present a kinder, gentler premier.
For Montreal designer Angy Foly, dressing women in her glossy and colourful boubous, a popular West African robe, is her way of instilling confidence in others and of staying connected to the Ivorian women who came before her.
It was a busy year for Manitoba, but when hasn't it been?
Deborah Charles inspects the tall, white and red transmitter that towers above the Missinipi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) building in La Ronge. The CEO of the Saskatchewan radio network reflects on what the corporation has meant to her.
By the time you read this, you might already be knee-deep in torn wrapping paper, demolished cardboard boxes and Styrofoam whatnots from the Christmas morning frenzy.
Every December, we remind you of some of the most interesting stories CBC Hamilton shared throughout the year.
Sharing with those less fortunate than yourself is a common theme during the Christmas season — but for Fred and Elyse Maindonald, it's more than just a holiday sentiment.
Whether you’re taking transit to visit loved ones, watching Die Hard in theatres or lacing up a pair of ice skates, you’ll want to know what’s open and closed this holiday season.
For the next two weeks, some services around Waterloo region and Guelph will be closed or have altered hours because of the statutory holidays.
Yellowknife's Explorer Hotel was left with extensive damage after a vehicle crashed into the hotel's lobby late in the day on Christmas Eve.