City of Yellowknife says residents may return as early as Sept. 6

The City of Yellowknife and a First Nation said in a news release Friday that evacuees will be able to return home as early as Sept. 6.

Residents of the Northwest Territories capital and members of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation (YKDFN) are set to be allowed to return home starting at noon that day, so long as there is no increase in wildfire risk from Friday onwards.

The return marks the final phase in a re-entry plan that is currently seeing essential personnel for critical services return.

Officials state that critical and basic services will be able to return on Sept. 4 and 5. Critical business and essential have been reached out by the city and YKDFN on Aug. 29.

The city and YKDFN will request the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs to replace the evacuation order with an alert at 12 p.m. on Sept. 6.

The city says advice from Environment and Climate Change’s Wildfire Incident Commander, the City of Yellowknife, and YKDFN deemed the current status will allow for a change in the status of the evacuation order and a “commencement of a return to the community.”

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Meanwhile, the mayors of Calgary and Yellowknife are calling on provincial and federal governments to help in the transition at this “critical time.”

In a joint statement released Friday, Mayor Jyoti Gondek and Mayor Rebecca Alty asked for additional resources to support trauma and crisis management efforts “municipalities cannot deliver.”

“By asking the Federal Government to coordinate resource provision through other provinces and agencies, we can immediately build a stronger support network in our cities,” their statement reads.

“At the same time, we are appealing to both the Alberta and Northwest Territories governments to call for additional resources to support trauma and crisis management efforts that municipalities cannot deliver on their own. By asking the Federal Government to coordinate resource provision through other provinces and agencies, we can immediately build a stronger support network in our cities.”

The territorial government declared the state of emergency on Aug. 15 as wildfires threatened several communities, including the capital, Yellowknife.

The move was meant to allow the government to marshal the resources it needed to protect the health and safety of residents during an unprecedented wildfire season.

Nearly 70 per cent of the territory’s population — including 20,000 Yellowknifers — are seeking refuge in Alberta and beyond until the danger has subsided.

There are currently 3,600 evacuees in Calgary. They have been staying in dozens of hotels across the city.

-With files from The Canadian Press