Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh MLA Richard Edjericon says the recently released 2023 wildfire after-action review fails to address the issues his constituents faced during the crisis. He's consequently considering resuming calls for a public inquiry into the affair.

Admitting he had only "skimmed" the report so far, Edjericon said it was obvious at the time there was a leadership issue, which the report appears to support.

"At the end of the day, how do we build trust with the constituents?" he asked rhetorically. "What stands out for me is we've been at this since the creation of the Northwest Territories in 1967 and there's been a lot of wildfires between then. You would think after 55 years they would get it right."

"We had this fire a few years ago and there's still a lot of unanswered questions. It's like the RCMP investigating the RCMP."

Yellowknife was declared the capital of the NWT on Sept. 8, 1967. Prior to that, the seat of the GNWT was in Ottawa.

In the arm's-length report by Edmonton-based consulting firm Transitional Solutions Inc. (TSI), released May 14, it's noted there appeared to be inadequate communication within the GNWT and with other stakeholders.

Edjericon said the report didn't acknowledge the trauma evacuees experienced during the month-long ordeal, and it reminded him of the trauma Indigenous people experienced through the residential school system.

"It doesn't talk about the human side of it, the impacts of the people," he said. "It was very scary for the residents of Ndilo. I was here when we had to help people get on the flight out of here.

"A lot of people left here with no money, no place to go. People were brought south and told to stay here, but if you wanted to eat you had to go to the other side of the city, which costs money. There were so many complaints I heard from people."

He added he would be putting questions about the report's findings to cabinet when the legislative assembly sits next week.

While he previously called for a public inquiry, Edjericon said he was going to wait and see what his constituents think of the report before he raised the issue again.

"People want to tell their story," he said. "This report doesn't give them an opportunity to explain what they went through when they left here.

"It appeared there was nobody in charge. People had questions about where they go, a lot of people were hungry and had no money. They were gone for two to three weeks and had no idea what they were going to come back to. They have a story to tell. Had we gone through the public inquiry process then you would really hear the human side of this — the impact of the fire to the residents of the NWT."

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø contacted the GNWT for comment, but the territorial government had previously stated when it released the report that it was preparing a formal response and would not be commenting on the report until then.

In an initial press release, Municipal and Community Affairs Minister Vince McKay — who was not an MLA during the 2023 crisis — said the GNWT was already implementing the findings of the report.