Members, we are now resuming debate on Motion 920(1), Establishing a Public Inquiry into the 2023 Fires.
On February 9th, 2024, Member from Range Lake moved Motion 920(1). The Honourable Premier moved the debate on the motion be postponed to February 22nd, 2024. The question is whether or not the Legislative Assembly resolved that the Commissioner cause an inquiry to be made into the 2023 wildfire. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to take a moment to speak to how we got here today as we prepare to consider this motion.
We are here today for talking about a public inquiry because we need to restore the public's trust. We know all too well that political engagement in the Northwest Territories can be fleeting, but the idea of a public inquiry has inspired many who hope to participate and share their experiences. We need to meet this moment. We need to send a message to the public that we take them seriously and we're ready to engage with them.
I have heard the argument that this public inquiry will result in too much blame and criticism without offering much insight to the government, to the public, or to this Assembly. To that, I say this perspective is a gross underestimation of the contribution the public has to offer and the independence a public inquiry can offer.
The people of the Northwest Territories lived through the crisis. Many worked to support their family, friends, and neighbours to get through it. Their knowledge is crucial if we want to move forward and prepare for the future, and their trust is key if we want to work together through the next crisis. The public's trust that natural disasters be managed by their government has been shaken by this event as has the trust of national partners, community organizations and, in particular, Indigenous governments. The fact that thousands of people were left on their own accord as the fires approached shows that much trust wasn't there to begin with. Shortly thereafter, the Yellowknife Airport here for our evacuation began to overflow, and the GNWT still told people to remain in place right up until the moment they told everyone to leave.
Nobody knew there was a plan to evacuate, especially if fires closed down the highway or heavy smoke prevented flights from taking off. In addition, the capital city is the most important supply hub for the Northwest Territories. Other communities feared that they would not get their groceries they'd need to feed their communities, fuel and other essential supplies. They did not know how long these disruptions would take place, and cooperation between Indigenous governments and the GNWT was severely strained. Sitting in hotel rooms down south, some days the government and its representatives were all too quiet for evacuees to handle. Then some days they were announcing plans and programs that did not make sense or seemed inadequate or contradictory. Social media was flooded with questions and speculation that often went unanswered. Who can apply for this assistance? Is my property safe and secure back home? When will I be allowed back into my community? What will I even be returning to?
Then, of course, there is the financial costs to individuals and communities. I spoke with many constituents during the last election who were out thousands of dollars. Many of those are still waiting for their government relief money to come in with numerous files for the Minister of Finance right now that we're working on fulfilling. These people are paying interest on high credit card bills at a time when our cost of living is very high and our costs continue to rise.
It will take years to recover, and at a time when our citizens are already trying to get over the effects of a multiyear global pandemic and the inflationary pressures that it's left in its wake. Communities that did not evacuate incurred costs as well that have not been compensated for. Any community that had to take in evacuees and prepare for fires of their own should not have to bear these costs alone.
The impact of last year's wildfire season remains inescapable. The event still hangs over communities. I am hopeful that as communities we can continue to work together to support each other, but the work of friends and neighbours can only go so far. Here in this House, we have a lot of work to do to restore public trust, Mr. Speaker, and prepare for the future. So I can say now is the time to get that work done and pass this public inquiry.
Mr. Speaker, I do want to speak to what is I've spoken why we need an inquiry, to restore trust in the public and to take stock of a very significant event, the largest Canadian airlift in or the largest airlift in our country's history, twothirds of the population displaced as climate refugees, community burnt nearly to the ground. If this isn't grounds for a public inquiry, I don't know what is.
And, Mr. Speaker, why, though, a public inquiry? What is a public inquiry? And, fundamentally, it is an independent transparent and accountable process. We looked for legislative tools to get us the best result for the public who are concerned and that would get results and the best recommendations, and the one we found was in the Public Inquiries Act. And we still feel very strongly, those who are in support of this motion, that this is the right way to go.
With no disrespect to the very hardworking public servants who are managing after-action reviews and did a very tough job in very difficult circumstances, a fully independent arm's length process cannot be in the government's hands. It can't even have the government's fingerprints on it. There is trust concerns in the Northwest Territories. There are people who feel they cannot speak to their MLAs sometimes without full anonymity. And if we can't hear from our constituents, if they don't feel protected to send us an email, what is the likelihood that they're going to feel comfortable sending in comments or stories or experiences to a report that is commissioned through the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs? I think it's unlikely we're going to get to the same level of engagement and the same level of outcomes.
Furthermore, the work of a contractor is going to take place behind closed doors. That's just how it works. They'll have public engagement sessions. We know the government is proposing quite an ambitious schedule of public engagement sessions, but the work is not going to be transparent. A work of a commission would be.
Furthermore, the work of a commission could be undertaken by Northerners who understand the North, who understand the communities, and know the unique sensitives and realities of working and living in the North and were also affected by this event. And that's a perspective that will not be shared by a hired firm from presumably the southern part of the country.
Mr. Speaker, and that's why we're proposing this approach. And this approach is not going to be something, with all due respect to my honourable friend the Premier, something that will cost tens of millions of dollars and something that will require hundreds of thousands of witnesses and grind government to a halt. We can confine the scope, the costs, and the timelines of a public inquiry through a very well-constructed inquiry establishment order. And that is what this motion calls to do, a collaborative process between the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight and the Cabinet in building something that both sides are comfortable with and that keeps that prevents this from spiraling out of control. Because it's true, an independent commission has a lot of power to be independent, but we can make the right calls. We can make the right calls on how it's shaped. We can modify the process for accepting testimony that protects witnesses and allows for private testimony to be given, just like we've seen in other commissions. We can, again, set a very clear budget, a reasonable budget, that can ensure the maximum amount of public engagement and expertise that the board of inquiry would need to complete this work, and we can make sure that they report back at a specific time. This is not something that just you launch like a ship, and it sails off to a new continent. This is something that we can constrain.
And furthermore, we can make it consider afteraction reports or any other reports that the government's working on right now. We can make it consider debriefings the departments have had internally. The inquiry can take into account all of these things and other things that we think are relevant. And that's important as well because we're not duplicating effort. You know, we're building on what the GNWT is already working on and building it into an arm's length public process that's completely independent of government and therefore will have that element of restoring trust and restoring confidence that this is not a whitewash report.
This is not something that has been a draft has been poured over by Cabinet and offensive sections taken out and, you know, things like that that we hear from the community. And I'm not suggesting that that's going to happen. You know, I would be inappropriate to do so in this Chamber or in any other venue. You know, we trust in our leaders. We put them there to lead. But this is a difference of opinion on how to proceed. You know, this isn't a personality dispute. This isn't about anyone's integrity. This is about what process is best for the Northwest Territories.
You know, and another thing we can do with that establishment order is ensure that Indigenous governments and Indigenous peoples are given a main stage in the process and craft it to ensure that their perspectives and their rights and treaties are respected and taken into account. We've had discussions about that and, you know, we want to improve this process in the Inquiries Act to ensure that Indigenous nations are well represented in that. And we haven't been doing this alone.
We've been working as an entire Assembly to have these conversations. You know, the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight has met with Cabinet in full and discussed concerns on how we concerns on both sides how we can move forward. I had met with the Premier and the Minister the Ministers responsible for wildfire prevention and emergency management in the Northwest Territories. This is all part of the process of building a compromise that can work for everyone because at the end of the day, we serve the public, and the public wants to see us work together. The public wants to see us meet their expectations, their very high expectations of restoring trust after a very traumatic episode in our shared history. And I believe we have been working earnestly to achieve that. But there is a dispute, and that's a healthy dispute. We're not sent here to agree to all agree with each other. It's not unanimous government, Mr. Speaker. It's consensus government. And when we have these kinds of disputes, it's only right we bring them to the floor and speak to why we feel strongly about something on one side or the other. And I really appreciate the level of maturity and professionalism that every Member has shown in discussing this motion and a public inquiry.
And furthermore, to the media, to the public, to the experts who have been brought in to weigh in on this, I think people Northerners are more aware of what a public inquiry is and what our legislation does than they've ever been in any period in the Northwest Territories' history before, and I think that's a good thing. I think people know what the stakes are, you know. I trust I have full trust that people watching our proceedings and who have been paying attention to the reporting in the media are well aware of what this entails and what it could be and what it isn't. Yes, there's still some concerns but I'm confident we can work through them and that the correct way to handle this is with a full public inquiry that ensures, again, independence, transparency, and accountability that is completely arm's length from government, because fundamentally a trust has been broken. And if we are not ready to meet the moment and restore that trust, we're going to start this Assembly off on bad footing.
So I hope that Members will support this motion and that we will move forward in collaboration with all parties to draft an establishment order that will meet the expectations the very high expectations of Northerners, give them the answers they're looking for, and ensure that that process has a hundred percent integrity that cannot be impugned by anyone looking from the outside in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. To the motion. Great Slave.
To the motion. Great Slave.
Just making sure I'm procedurally correct, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When I was elected, I got a strong sense from the residents of my riding that they wanted to see someone represent them who would make collaboration their main mode of operation. They wanted someone who would listen to them as residents but also someone who would listen to all Members of the Assembly. That baseline expectation is what I strive to live up to every day that I have the privilege to stand here and proudly represent my riding. I have heard from constituents on both sides of the public inquiry argument. Some see a public inquiry as the only way forward. Others have cautioned, like the Premier, to the expense of what a public inquiry might entail.
The most poignant request that was shared with me was a detailed account from the perspective of a redeployed GNWT employee. They worked at an evacuation centre and provided me with several pages of issues that they flagged from that experience. I have shared this account on an anonymous basis with all Members in this House well before this motion came to the floor. I did this in the spirit of collaboration to spark a conversation about what a scope could or should entail, and I was told in so many words that I was putting the cart before the horse and, in some ways, I was. But I still think that that conversation should have happened with all 19 of us and that it would have led to some conversations earlier on about what the best container looked like collaboratively. But that did not come to pass.
After conferring with my colleagues and legal staff in the past two weeks, I can say that the Public Inquiries Act affords, through regulation, everything that residents want to see constraints to timelines, budgets and, especially important to me, the ability to provide for anonymity when requested.
The people in the NWT deserve to know exactly what the GNWT did to fight last summer's fires and what it did to plan for and support all the people displaced from their homes and communities. And more importantly, the people deserve to find out why the GNWT made the decisions that it did, particularly the decisions of Ministers and senior officials in charge. An independent review of staff actions may tell part of the story, but the more important story lies in finding out on what those staff were told to do in the first place. However, to see what we want, the scope will remain the crucial part of the conversation that I was so eager to have. This means that we need strong terms of reference for the inquiry. I hope that all 19 of us together can collaborate meaningfully on that piece together.
Unfortunately, right after the deferral two weeks ago, the Premier told the media that a public inquiry is not the way to go effectively signaling that meaningful collaboration with all Members, that I thought I was voting for through deferral of the motion, was dead in the water. And although it is certain that this motion will pass today, adding to dashed hopes Cabinet is not compelled to do what we request in the motion. Others may infer meaning behind that choice but, ultimately to me, it comes down to this: It's kind of depressing that the government needs to be convinced to do the right thing and, ultimately, it feels likely they won't, even now. It diminishes the trust in the GNWT further. Cabinet had an amazing opportunity to make a strong gesture of good faith and prove that they were not going to make things business as usual, but that boat seems to have sailed.
I'm going to get a little technical, Mr. Speaker. The Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act obligates MLAs to perform their duties of office and arrange their affairs in such a manner as to maintain public confidence and trust in the integrity, objectivity, and impartiality of the Member and to act in a manner that will bear the closest public scrutiny in all other respects. This obligation exists because public trust is at the heart of good government. Members must always strive to maintain that trust.
The thing about trust is that the person who wants to earn it doesn't always get to define when they have done enough to be trusted. Maybe the government can be trusted to investigate its own actions last summer but however thorough and complete its review, there are sure to be doubts, particularly among those who are most directly affected by the fires. Cabinet could take those doubts right off the table right now and earn a whole lot of public trust and respect by agreeing to launch a public inquiry.
We have reached a critical decision point only a hundred days into our time as Members that now sets the tone for how we work together as an Assembly. We can decide to send the message that this government will stand for truth, transparency and integrity, and that it is committed to partnership and collaboration with all Members. If we decide otherwise, it will leave a question mark hanging over us about our ability to move forward together. I will continue to push for all 19 of us to have collaboration as our preferred mode of operation. I'll always ask for that collaboration and ask for it to be meaningful.
One last thing I'll say and then I'm done. Trust is not something that is found or restored; it has to be earned every day. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. To the motion. Member from Monfwi.
