The Week's News (and more): Wildfires and low water levels
Plus fox kits, a spelling bee and a tiny Yellowknife
Hello readers, this is Emily, Cabin Radio’s assistant editor.
Spring is in full swing here in the Northwest Territories with sunny weather and bird sightings. Unfortunately, so is the wildfire season and by all indications it looks like it’s going to be another challenging one.
The southern part of the territory remains in extreme drought with low water levels across much of the NWT a stark visual reminder. Great Slave Lake’s Yellowknife Bay is at its lowest on record for this time of year, leaving some houseboats sitting on the exposed lake bed instead of floating in the water and causing challenges for Air Tindi, which has a floatbase on the bay.
So far, more than a dozen wildfires have burned more than 2,000 hectares across the territory. Many of those fires are holdovers from last year’s historic season.
Wildfires have already disrupted communications in the territory and beyond and destroyed two structures. Some communities are facing restricted road access as wildfires threaten highways, such as Fort Liard, which is on evacuation notice, meaning residents should be prepared to leave.
But leaders say they are better prepared to face this year’s season.
Meanwhile, Yellowknife’s short-lived city manager has announced plans to move on to another northern city, an abandoned couch has become fodder for memes, some NWT fishers are raising concerns about how they are policed by federal officers, and Inuvik is planning to rename streets associated with residential schools.
As a palate cleanser, we also have photos of adorable fox kits and a video of a fierce face-off at the territorial spelling bee.
IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
Our most important stories
Fox kits!
Shockingly low water levels
Students face off at territorial spelling bee
What we’re reading
Stories to catch up on
What do the NWT’s youth politicians want the territory to do?
Freed from some limits the adults face, youth MLAs bluntly voiced their concerns about the territory – and their aspirations. This is what they said.
In pictures: Building a tiny Yellowknife
Constructing a miniature Yellowknife by scaling down all the buildings then recreating each one? Not an easy task. These St Pat's students tried.
Audit slams increasing costs at northern contaminated sites
Ottawa is struggling to manage costs at contaminated sites – including those in the North – and must do more to meet reconciliation goals, an audit found.
Giant Mine ‘must be better prepared’ for wildfires, evacuations
When there's an evacuation affecting one of Canada's most toxic sites, what should happen next? That situation faced Giant Mine. The oversight board says it’s not satisfied with the response.
Think you can trust that burn area?
The land burned by recent wildfires isn't always behaving how it used to, complicating community protection and potentially transforming forest into grassland.
How has Fort Liard’s community policing program worked out?
Three years ago, Fort Liard embarked on a pilot project that introduced community safety officers alongside RCMP. The pilot has been extended to 2026.
Casey Koyczan longlisted for Sobey Art Award
Yellowknife's Casey Koyczan was longlisted for one of Canada's leading visual arts awards, occupying a new category designed to better amplify northern work.
A year after Frank Gruben disappeared, his family still seeks answers
"I don't have to accept it, no matter what." Frank Gruben's mother is still seeking answers and closure, a year after his disappearance from Fort Smith.
Their home burned, then the car vanished. That was the start.
"They took everything." A Yellowknife family whose home burned last fall are powerless as their belongings are removed with, they say, next to no communication.
‘There’s people that care.’ Yellowknifers march for Red Dress Day
"We must remember and share the heartbreaking stories." Residents marched through Yellowknife on Monday to mark Red Dress Day.
A weird winter on one of the North’s most isolated highways
"If this is climate change, we better be way more prepared." Even by the Dempster Highway's standards, last winter was difficult. It might be the future.
Meet the students at Skills Canada NWT’s territorials
"I'm calm now, I’m collected, and I'm just doing everything." We dropped in on students competing in Skills Canada NWT's trades territorials this week.
Is the NWT’s emergency chain of command working?
Some leaders think the GNWT's emergency planning still has "glaring" gaps despite a recent update. Others say real progress is being made.
North West Company defends use of Nutrition North funding
Northern retailers and airlines told MPs more must be done to address the high cost of food, while a company central to the discussion defended its practices.
‘This challenge needs to be faced by the region as a whole’
A new book explores housing insecurity in Canada's North, Greenland and Alaska. A Yellowknife-born editor of that book told us how policies could change.
‘Quit being a bully’ over rail repairs, Hay River MLA tells CN
Hay River South MLA Vince McKay called on rail giant CN to change its mind about leaving the town's rail line out of service after wildfire damage last year.
In Pictures: Yellowknife’s fox kits
Yellowknife photographer Bill Braden shared these photos of fox kits entertaining residents of a neighbourhood in the city this spring.
Watch: The North’s drought from the air
Watch: NWT students do battle at spelling bee
What we’re reading
The last flower at the top of the world—and the perilous journey to reach it
Climate change researchers headed to Inuit Qeqertaat or Kaffeklubben Island on the northern coast of Greenland where they found the world's northernmost plant. Photos in National Geographic show what they saw.
'Hopeless and broken': why the world's top climate scientists are in despair
The Guardian surveyed 380 top climate scientists across the globe about how they feel about the future for this interactive piece. Their findings were grim. “All of humanity needs to come together and cooperate – this is a monumental opportunity to put differences aside and work together,” said Louis Verchot, at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia. “Unfortunately climate change has become a political wedge issue … I wonder how deep the crisis needs to become before we all start rowing in the same direction.”
Into the fire: In the Northwest Territories, we canoed through climate change
In this mixed media essay for the Globe and Mail, author Manjushree Thapa writes and paints about a trip to Yellowknife last summer, during the territory’s worst wildfire season on record, which included sharing a lodge with firefighters.
The questions haven't changed — but answers are harder to get
This opinion piece by longtime Nova Scotia reporter Jean Laroche highlights one of the biggest challenges facing reporter across Canada when trying to get answers and hold governments accountable: it's become nearly impossible to get direct information from government officials. "What you get is a canned statement that almost certainly was prepared by people who are more anxious to shade and nuance to prevent anybody from knowing anything."
Meta’s Canadian news ban could put people at risk during public emergencies
When nearly 80 percent of the NWT was forced to evacuate due to wildfires last summer, residents experienced first-hand the challenges Meta's Canadian news ban had on accessing timely, accurate and critical information. For The Conversation, two associate professors from Mount Royal University argue the ongoing ban could put people at risk as the 2024 wildfire season begins.