The GNWT Department of Environment and Climate Change (ECC) plans to implement all of the recommendations laid out in the after-action review of its response to last year's wildfires. 

The independent, third-party review was undertaken by Calgary-based firm MNP LLP. The consultancy's conclusions were published in a 212-page document that was released to the public in August. It included 25 recommendations and 15 areas for improvement. 

On Oct. 21, the legislative assembly's standing committee on oversight and accountability hosted a public briefing on the findings of the review. There, ECC officials revealed that they plan to follow all 25 recommendations, and that several are already being applied. 

"ECC is committed to implementing the 25 recommendations and 15 opportunities for improvement," said Mike Gravel, director of the department's forest management division. 鈥淪ome recommendations have already been implemented and will be in place for the 2025 fire season.鈥�

Many of the recommendations that ECC is working on concern human resources.

During the briefing, Gravel revealed that the department is looking to add five-person sustained-action crews in several communities across all regions, which "can be brought together as needed to form 20-person sustained action crews.鈥� Gravel also announced ECC will host two centralized training camps per year for wildland firefighters 鈥� one in the north of the territory, the other in the south.

Dehcho MLA Sheryl Yakeleya, one of several members present at the briefing, encouraged ECC to also hire more staff for fire towers around the territory, suggesting, "It's more reliable to have somebody up there" than it is to outfit towers with cameras. 

However, Gravel doesn't consider staffed fire towers a feasible part of the department's new human resources strategy. 

"With respect to towers, unfortunately, there is a shift away from people working in isolation and working in remote areas by themselves," he said. "Fortunately, in the Northwest Territories, we have not had serious accidents or fatalities, but there have been fatalities of tower people. In this industry, we鈥檝e had tower people that were killed by bears at their sites, we鈥檝e had people fall while climbing up the ladder... It's also with risk, so many agencies across Canada are moving away from having people work in isolation and moving to the technology that鈥檚 available. 

"The technology also has advantages. It鈥檚 24/7. A tower person is not in the tower every hour of the day. They go up for a period of time, usually mid-afternoon when it鈥檚 getting hot or lightning starts 鈥� and they also have to get down if there鈥檚 lightning. A lot of times it鈥檚 risky to be up there.

"Our goal is not to eliminate positions or jobs. We鈥檝e moved [tower] people into other roles."

Outside of the human resources sphere, ECC has also begun implementing recommendations that concern fire behaviour modelling, aviation resources, equipment management and infrastructure, the incident command system, policy strategy and procedures, information sharing, coordination with municipal and Indigenous governments, prevention and community protection and budgeting and reporting. 

Gravel also emphasized the importance of eliminating human-caused fires, which "will reduce the risk immediately around our communities.鈥�

While MNP's review included several recommendations related to traditional Indigenous knowledge, Monfwi MLA Jane Weyallon Armstrong expressed her disappointment that it wasn't of greater focus. 

"Indigenous people love their land and if they have the resources, they will take preventative measures to put [a fire] out as soon as it starts," she said. "Even one of the small communities in my riding, they asked for an additional water pump because the fire was getting close, so that way they can take it upon themselves because they do have some people there 鈥� some are retirees 鈥� that had a lot of knowledge to fight these fires. It didn鈥檛 happen.

鈥淚鈥檓 disappointed that traditional knowledge was not identified in the report."

In response, ECC Minister Jay Macdonald pledged to continue weaving Indigenous knowledge into the territory's fire program.

"Traditional knowledge is definitely a critical component of fighting fire," he said. "I鈥檝e been privileged to work alongside some very experienced Indigenous firefighters that have been doing this for 30, 40 years. 

鈥淭hat鈥檚 definitely a critical component, and ensuring we keep that traditional knowledge in our programs and that we鈥檙e passing that knowledge on," he added. "We need to keep it top of mind as we鈥檙e developing, as we鈥檙e looking forward."

The 2023 wildfires in the NWT burned more than 3.4 million hectares. Nineteen communities were evacuated and destruction was rampant, particularly in the small community of Enterprise, where approximately 80 per cent of structures burned down. In addition, a wildland firefighter 鈥� Fort Liard's Adam Yeadon 鈥� lost his life while on the job.