The City of Yellowknife has called back essential workers to prepare for the return of Yellowknife’s nearly 22,000 residents.
When that can happen is still unclear, but Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Alty said it’s likely to be at least five more days.
Monday afternoon, fire officials said the wildfire burning between Yellowknife and Behchokǫ̀ is now “being held”
The fire forced the evacuation of the capital city nearly two weeks ago.
The territory established a five-phase re-entry plan, and the return of workers is in the third phase.
Alty spoke to The Trailbreaker and CBC News Network Monday morning to explain upcoming steps of re-entry. City Manager Sheila Bassi-Kellet also spoke to The Trailbreaker.
The interviews have been edited for clarity.
Mayor Alty, can you shed some light on the fire being classified as “held”? Can you tell us why it isn’t safe for people to return at this time?
Alty: When they say it’s being held, it’s that they have the current resources and sufficient suppression action that they feel that the wildfire is not likely to spread beyond its current boundary under the current forecasts.
So then we can start our re-entry plan. The territorial government has a five-phase re-entry plan. Phase one is that the fire is being held. So check, that’s done. Phase two is to determine if any buildings have been impacted by the fire, critical ones like the hospital or the water treatment plant and check, that’s done because our buildings weren’t impacted. So now we’re on phase three, which is what we started yesterday by calling critical and essential employees back, like water and sewer, and garbage. The territorial government will have to call their critical staff back, like the hospital and airports. Then we’re also working through calling critical businesses, stuff like the grocery stores.
After everybody returns back then we’re into phase four, which is setting all the services back up. Once the services are back up, then we can get to phase five, which is inviting everyone back. So it’s a glimmer of hope, but we don’t have a date on that.
One of the other challenges I should mention is the fires in the South Slave are still quite serious. After our news conference yesterday about the fires being held in Yellowknife, we got notice that Highway 1 is closed due to the fire. So I want to stress that folks aren’t going to be coming back if the highways are unsafe. It’s just a complication to this whole plan.
Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Alty laid out more details of the city’s slow return on Tuesday morning. (Rebecca Alty/Facebook)
I want to clarify something that you said there. Have you called back some of the essential municipal services?
Bassi-Kellet: Actually we were starting to reach out on Sunday evening to some of our staff. We’d love to get everybody back so that the city is 100 per cent up and running with all of our rec services and everything, but we’re not doing that. We’re focusing on our water and sewer, roads and sidewalks. We know that garbage collection is going to be absolutely critical as everybody comes back. People are going to come back to some interesting science projects in their fridges, and they’re going to need to really clean out their homes overall.
And then what we’re doing is we’re reaching out to critical businesses. We’ve asked them to identify out of all of their staff who’s critical to get up and running. So for example, Rochdi’s [Independent Grocer] says out of 150-160 employees, they’re bringing back 25, so that they’ll be able to get up and running as quickly as possible with the bare bones.
I want to ask about municipal services. You mentioned that you’ve already called them back. How many people is the city going to bring back in those essential roles?
Bassi-Kellet: We have approximately half of our water and sewer crew, and our roads and sidewalks crew has been here throughout. They’ve been absolutely critical and working on a lot of the defences for the city in terms of the sprinkler ring and a lot of the other factors. We’re probably looking at about 15 to 18 on top of the staff that we have here on the ground.
Any idea of when they’ll be returning to the city?
Bassi-Kellet: We’re asking everyone to come back as quickly as we can. Some opted to drive out. That’ll take them a little longer than someone who perhaps was able to fly down with their families or fly down by themselves and come back. That’s definitely a factor Mayor Alty mentioned as well, that it’s not just the safety of Yellowknife, but the safety of the entire route home.
So are you saying that if they packed up and left in the wee hours this morning, they could be returning sometime today?
Bassi-Kellet: That’s an ambitious driving schedule. There’s some people that are hitting the road. I mean, they’ve got to pack up and extract themselves from where they are. We know that the [Government of the N.W.T.] has got scheduled flights, and we’re working with them on that to make sure that we have our critical staff on that list.
So is this something that we could see completed by maybe the end of the week?
Bassi-Kellet: We’re very hopeful. But again, I want to say that the planning window can be a little bit different than what’s reality on the ground. Knowing people are driving, we want to make sure that, for example, there’s arrangements for fuel along the way. We know that, terribly, there’s no opportunity to gas up in Enterprise. We know that hotels are packed with a lot of people, so we want to make sure that the driving conditions are supported. And that’s something that we’re working on with GNWT.
Yellowknife city manager Sheila Bassi-Kellett. (Angela Gzowski/City of Yellowknife)
Once we have all of the essential workers and essential businesses back, how long until you’re ready to invite back the general public?
Bassi-Kellet: So we will provide advice to [Municipal and Community Affairs Minister Shane] Thompson when we’re ready. He may lift [the evacuation order] altogether, or he may just put things onto an evacuation alert.
But under that evacuation alert, the general public should be able to come back?
Bassi-Kellet: That’s my understanding.
Is that a process for days or weeks?
Alty: It’s days, but it’s not one or two days. So it’s still too early, stay tuned on that.
The one thing I would say for residents that, if you are looking for something to do to prepare to come home, we won’t have all services fully operational. The grocery stores are going to be up and running, but if we have 20,000 people coming back and wanting to do groceries that first day, you may want to consider bringing three days’ worth of non-perishables with you.
How are you going to handle that infrastructure piece to make sure you don’t have cars parked for kilometres on that one highway?
Alty: The territorial government is working on that piece because they will be repatriating people by air and they are also working on that highway piece to make sure that it’s a bit smoother.
I think it will be a little different this time just even in talking to residents. Some folks will probably wait a day or two after it’s announced just to let the congestion unwind.
The one thing I would really stress is please don’t come back now, if you are not a critical worker. We do have checkpoints up and if your name’s not on that list, you will be turned away. So don’t waste your gas money trying to come back.
Will you be staggering people’s returns?
Alty: Not for the vehicle traffic. The airlifts will be a little different. We’ve got to make sure that the essential services like shelters are set up before folks who are using shelters are on the planes and coming back home. So there will be a bit of work with the territorial government and stay tuned on those flights.
What do you foresee being the biggest challenge in all of this?
Alty: Some people car-pooled down, which is great, but now their ride’s somewhere else and so they will need a flight back. So I think we’re going to see more people needing flights back than going down, and making sure that system’s in place.
What about people who are already out of money?
Alty: That is a challenging part. So the territorial government is opening the portal for compensation. So I encourage residents to take a look there.
The evacuation centres do have some supports available. Continue to use that and reaching out. There are a lot of resources but sometimes it’s hard to find them.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia‘s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
