Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, communities are dealing with the unprecedented wildfire crisis gave a lot to the efforts to save their homes, residents, and municipalities, and property. Mr. Speaker, my questions are going to be the Minister Shane Thompson, Environment and Climate Change.
Mr. Speaker, what has been done to recognize the sacrifices made by the communities under evacuation order and the frontline workers who stayed to fight the fire? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Tu NedheWiilideh. Minister responsible for Environment and Climate Change.
Yes, it's more of a Municipal and Community Affairs question. So we do have a hosting grant available to communities. We have identified communities as evacuation centres, like Fort Simpson was for Kakisa and Jean Marie. The reason we identify these evacuation centres is so that we don't burden the community on there, so. But we've noticed that some of the communities have been working or getting evacuees into the communities. So we did establish a hosting grant, and the communities can apply for the hosting grants on that there. In regards to if he's looking for equipment and that, we are working with the communities on those things as we move forward. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this fire that happened that impacted the residents of the Northwest Territories, including Yellowknife and the smaller communities, in particular Lutselk'e, Dettah, N'dilo, and Fort Resolution, you know, when this evacuation order went ahead, we had evacuees that came to Fort Resolution, that over 105 people there showed up to that community that came in from Fort Smith, Hay River Reserve, Fort Smith Reserve as well, and Yellowknife. So, Mr. Speaker, we the communities of Fort Resolution have incurred costs as a result of the additional people coming into the community on accommodations, food security, etcetera. Mr. Speaker, the cost involved with an emergency operation are enormous. The community governments I represent do not have deep pockets. How will the Minister ensure the costs related to the wildfire are not disproportionately placed on municipalities and designated authorities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, like I said, we do have a hosting grant that's up to $40,000. We again, that's why we're telling people with evacuation centres there are certain communities that are host friendly and those ones that aren't. We understand that we seen people go into communities, so we provided that. We did our superintendent reached out to Fort Res, worked with them. We also had the food security with ITI working with them to see if we needed to do those things. So I can also tell you that I've reached out to the federal government, Indigenous Service Canada, talked about designated authorities and how they're being impacted. These are some of the challenges that we're seeing that we need to get fixed up on. So if it's a designated authority, if they're created by the Indian Act, then we're trying to get the funding for them to help us move forward. So we've reached out to Indigenous Service Canada on that, but we are and, again, we did set up a hosting grant this fiscal year because of the situations where people were going to hub communities that were not hosting. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The $40,000 grants is just not going to be enough. For our community of Fort Resolution, you know, that community council and the Metis council paid out monies to their evacuees, some that all from are all scattered across Canada. And also in YKDFN, they spent a lot of money out of their IBAs that they want to see back, and also the community of Lutselk'e. Not including the work that they have done to fire smart the community as the fire would start to happen. They incurred a lot of costs to date. And, Mr. Speaker, they want to see some kind of monies back to their communities. So it's clear we need to improve on our emergency preparedness on both the territorial and local levels. What is the Minister doing to ensure we are better prepared for the next fire that might happen maybe in my region probably next year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So two departments, Municipal and Community Affairs and ECC, are doing an after-action review. So that's part one. We are reaching out to the municipalities, working to see that there. We're also setting up training events. We're looking if there are the emergency plan, how it worked, where we can improve on it, set up training, tabletop exercises so people are better prepared on that. We're also working with ECC to come in and work with the communities on their fire smarting or their fire smart to the communities. But also when the Member talks about, you know, fire breaks and stuff like that, NWTAC got over $20 million for eight years and communities can work on there. My understanding is the funding doesn't get there next until next year, but people that spent money on fire breaks and that, they can hold that this year, and then bring it and bring forth those expenses for next year as eligible expenses. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Tu NedheWiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've reached out to the Indigenous governments and Dettah and N'dilo, Lutselk'e, and Fort Resolution. I've asked them to provide a letter to me on the costs that they incurred as a result of this fire evacuation that happened. And once I get that information, I will forward it to the Minister to let them know that what we incurred in the communities as a result of the trigger being pulled in this evacuation here in the Northwest Territories.
Having said that, Mr. Speaker, also, you know, the emergency plans for the communities need to happen. Right now, I've approached the Minister about trying to get something going in Fort Resolution because of the fire near Hay River. Also, the community of Lutselk'e, they also need a plan and we need help on that area. So if we don't start fire smarting our communities even this fall, then we're going to have the same problems maybe as early as springtime. Where the fire could be next year. So I guess my question to the Minister is that what can we do to work with the communities to make sure that we have adequate resources provided so that they can make decisions and start fire smarting the communities even as early as this fall? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Tu NedheWiilideh. Minister responsible for MACA.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess first and foremost, each community should have their own emergency management operation plan. They should have it in place. And if they don't, we as the regional our regional staff will be in there working with them. We created five new positions for emergency management. So that we can help work with them. One of the after-action review things is that I'm looking at we need at least another five more positions at the regional level to do the recovery and work with these communities. So that's part of the conversation that we're having.
In regards to fire breaks and fire smarting the communities, as I said, last with the last question is NWTAC has money. Each community of the 29 communities have money that they can access through NWTAC. Unfortunately, the money that NWTAC got, they don't get it until next year from the federal government. But what they have said, and they have worked with the federal government, that they can do the work that needs to be done now. If they want to do fire smart the community and reach out to the community or NWTAC to see what their share is, what they get from that, and then they can do the work this year and then as of April 1st can then give the invoice to NWTAC and they get reimbursed back that way. So we're all working together for this. And as, again, we are doing an after-action review with MACA and ECC. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
