Mr. Speaker, there's no place like home. And I think that the residents of Hay River know that as well as anyone. For the second year in a row, the entire community of Hay River, as well as KFN, have been evacuated in the middle of the night. And finally today, the majority of residents of Hay River can go back to the community and I am sure many of them are on the road right now. I am sure many of them were on the road yesterday. Unfortunately, our neighbours, our friends, our family, our coworkers, at KFN, they don't have that same luxury and so our hearts go out to them. I want to take this opportunity to thank a lot of people and I might miss some, but my intention is really to thank everyone. It is a big deal when two entire communities evacuate, and they have to go somewhere, and so a lot of people have to help.
And first and foremost, I want to thank those fighting the fires on both sides of the river. We have over 150 wildfire firefighters working on it, we have the structural firefighters in Hay River patrolling that side of the river, we have a number of first responders, and they are doing their part, and they have been working full out for the past ten days. So we are so appreciative of their efforts. Because of those efforts, the fire that damaged KFN and threatening Hay River has now been downgraded to being held from out of control. And Mr. Speaker, from what I've heard, the comments from firefighters who have been around for 50 years and those who are brand new, they have a lot of, I guess, respect for this fire. I mean, it's big; it's powerful; there's a lot of fuel out there for this fire. And so while it may be being held now, it is still threatening. So I want to make sure that even though we are allowed to go home, we are going home, that residents are prepared to leave on a moment's notice if they need to because that fire, it's only six kilometres away from my community. That's a few hours if the winds shift. So it can come back, so I want to make sure everyone has their gas tank full and a bag packed.
I want to thank all the communities, the individuals, and the businesses that opened up their arms to the residents of Hay River. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Thank you.
Unanimous consent granted
It's no small feat to house and feed 4,000 people, and that's exactly what happened. I want to thank the staff and volunteers who are providing support at all of the evacuation centres. I want to thank everyone who's made donations. I want to thank all of my colleagues here as well. Every time I had to call one of my Cabinet colleagues, they answered the phone, a number of the Regular Members that reached out and offered their support. So personally, I want to thank them as well.
Mr. Speaker, this is the second year in a row that this has happened now. For those of us living on Vale Island, I believe it's the fourth year in a row we've had to evacuate. Residents were scattered all across the Northwest Territories, and Alberta, some went to British Columbia, I'm sure there's some elsewhere. I was here in Yellowknife, and I spent my days at the evacuation centre speaking with constituents and residents of KFN, and I want them to know that I did listen. I heard what they had to say, and I relayed those messages to Cabinet every single day. They talked about their accommodations. They talked about their safety at the evacuation centre. They talked about challenges housing their pets. They talked about their finances and the challenges, you know, affording to evacuate. And so I did bring those to the Ministers every single day, and I want to thank Cabinet for coming forward with a new evacuee financial support program; the first time it's ever been done in the territory. So that's very much appreciated. It's not going to make anyone whole. Not everyone's going to be eligible. But it will help those many of those in need.
Mr. Speaker, I want to say that this was this was a tough one. There was a different feeling this year from last year when we evacuated from the flood, and that's because we were still recovering from the flood. We're recovering from a number of drug poisonings. There's been an explosion in Hay River. It's been a tough year. People are stretched financially, emotionally, and nerves really are frayed. So I know yesterday when we got word we could go home, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, you know, we got to relax our shoulders a little bit, and you could see it walking around town there was a different mood. So I just want to make sure everyone who is home stays safe and is prepared in case the worst happens again. So thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
