Northwest Territories region Emergency Management Plan
Table of contents
Introduction
The Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) Regional Emergency Management Plans provide an overview of the specific roles and responsibilities of ISC regional offices and regional staff in supporting First Nations emergency management. This plan outlines the responsibilities of ISC Northwest Territories (NWT) regional representatives and their relationships with First Nations, Indigenous-led organizations, the territorial government, and non-governmental organizations involved in emergency management activities supporting First Nations on-reserve communities.
This plan supports the ISC National All Hazards Emergency Management Plan by identifying region-specific:
- risks and hazards
- communication and information sharing mechanisms
- how the ISC Northwest Territories regional representatives work with service providers and First Nations to ensure emergency services are culturally-relevant
Like the ISC national emergency management plan, this document is not meant to replace any First Nations, territorial, regional, or community procedures and plans. It is intended to complement any existing plans or procedures and used to help make informed decisions and take concrete actions to assist First Nations on-reserve communities in emergency situations.
This regional plan is an evergreen document, reviewed and updated at least every two years, or following important changes to mandates and roles and responsibilities.
Scope
This plan supports First Nations on reserve in the NWT in the 4 pillars of emergency management: prevention and mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. For more information on the national emergency management plan's scope, see ISC's National All Hazards Emergency Management Plan.
The Northwest Territories has 33 communities across 6 regions. This plan applies to two First Nations that have on-reservecommunities that are eligible for support from ISC's Emergency Management Assistance Program — Kátł'odeeche First Nation and Salt River First Nation — geographically located in the South Slave Region of the NWT.
Regional risk environment
As outlined in ISC's national emergency management plan, Canada's risk environment includes a broad range of natural and human-induced hazards. Each region faces its own particular risk environment.
Regional context informing risk assessment
The South Slave Region of the NWT is located south of Great Slave Lake and bordering the Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south and Nunavut to the east. The population of the region is 8,168 people (2022 census). The Towns of Hay River and Fort Smith, respectively, are the second and fourth largest communities in the NWT. The South Slave Region consists of these communities:
- Enterprise (121 prior to the substantial loss of community infrastructure from wildfire in 2023)
- Fort Providence (711)
- Fort Resolution (556)
- Fort Smith (2,607) includes some members (10) of Salt River First Nation living on reserve lands (lots located in and around the town)
- Hay River (3,796)
- Kakisa (36)
- Kátł'odeeche First Nation on-reserve community (341)
The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) Emergency Management Organization (EMO), community government and other key regional representatives developed a South Slave Region Hazard Assessment (March 2024) (PDF).
Risk assessment for Northwest Territories
The top 5 hazard risks in the NWT are:
- flood
- wildfire
- severe weather
- transportation incidents
- critical incident failure
Wildfire and flood in particular are the highest risk hazards throughout the NWT. These hazards have frequently caused extensive damage to people, property, the environment and the economy.
The South Slave Region Hazard Assessment identified and rated 20 hazards that could affect the South Slave Region, ranking them in order of emergency planning priority.
South Slave Region hazard summary
Extreme
- Flood (ice jam/freshet)
High
- Wildfire/interface fire
Medium
- Critical services — power/fuel interruption
- Transportation incident — road/ice road closure
- Human disease (pandemic/epidemic)
- Severe weather — extreme cold
- Hazardous materials — spill
- Severe weather — snowstorm/windstorm
- Earth movement — erosion
- Structural fire
- Transportation incident — aircraft incident
- Snow load hazard
Low
- Critical Services — water interruption
- Hazardous materials — explosion
- Earth movement — permafrost degradation
- Public safety — cyber security
- Animal disease
- Public safety — social actions
Negligible
- Earth movement — earthquake
- Space debris
Regional legislation regulations authorities and agreements
Regional legislation
The NWT Emergency Management Act establishes the emergency management responsibilities and the powers available under the Act.
The federal department of ISC is responsible to support First Nations on-reserve and other eligible First Nations communities to ensure emergency management services provided to them are comparable to those provided to other communities in provinces and territories. The emergency management partners (Kátł'odeeche First Nation, Salt River First Nation, GNWT, ISC and the Towns of Hay River and Fort Smith) ensure that the on-reserve communities have access to emergency response, recovery, preparedness and mitigation programs consistent with programs delivered to other NWT communities.
Regional agreements
- ISC and the GNWT have an agreement that helps fund the GNWT to support Kátł'odeeche and Salt River First Nations to prepare and respond to emergency events
- The ISC Emergency Management Service Agreement webpage
Regional plans
Emergency management in the NWT is everyone's responsibility — individuals, local authorities (community governments), Indigenous governments, non-government organizations and the private sector, GNWT and other emergency management partners.
Developed under the authority of the Emergency Management Act, the NWT Emergency Plan describes the emergency management framework, roles and responsibilities of departments and partners during emergencies.
Kátł'odeeche First Nation is identified as a local authority under the Act. As a local authority Kátł'odeeche First Nation, guided by its Emergency Management Framework and Plan that:
- Establishes and maintains a Local Emergency Management Organization to develop and implement emergency plans and other preparedness, response and recovery measures for emergencies
- Appoints a coordinator of the community emergency management organization and establishes the duties of the coordinator
- Prepares and maintains emergency plans and programs
Salt River First Nation's unique circumstances do not require it to have an emergency plan because that is a responsibility of the Town of Fort Smith where a small number of the Salt River First Nation members reside on lots that are reserve lands in Fort Smith. The Town of Fort Smith is an important partner with Salt River First Nation to ensure that the on-reserve residents have access to emergency services and support.
Communication and information sharing mechanisms
The NWT Emergency Plan establishes a planning and response emergency management framework, where operational and public communication and information-sharing mechanisms are extensively described throughout:
- The NWT emergency management system
- A framework for relationships with other departments, governments, and non-government agencies in preparing for and responding to emergencies
- Procedures for the coordination of responses to territorial emergencies and in supporting local authorities during emergencies where their capacity has been exceeded and assistance has been requested
The NWT Emergency Plan provides for coordinating impacts on the Kátł'odeeche First Nation and Salt River First Nation on-reserve communities and its residents, and includes references to federal (for example Federal Emergency Management Plan, the Emergency Management Assistance Program) support activities. It includes annexes for:
- Evacuation Guidelines — To guide action plan development for community evacuations
- Emergency Communications Protocol — To guide coordination of communications
Differences exist in this coordination function, depending on the extent and type of emergency: it may be handled at the local, municipal or territorial level.
Culturally-relevant emergency services in Northwest Territories
In accordance with the ISC Interim Service Standards for Culturally-Relevant Emergency Management Services ISC regional representatives work to ensure emergency services are culturally-relevant and meet the needs of marginalized groups.
The ISC regional representative maintains contact with Kátł'odeeche First Nation or Salt River First Nation representatives during emergency events and works directly with other federal departments, the GNWT and communities to identify and arrange for cultural supports available from ISC during response. ISC regional representatives ensure that the recovery process for either Kátł'odeeche First Nation or Salt River First Nation is community-led, beginning once communities are ready, and guided by their priorities.
The ISC regional representative acts, facilitates and coordinates closely with the eligible First Nations (coordinating with the GNWT representatives) to minimize the risk of harm by ensuring that emergency services are culturally-relevant. Considerations include, but are not limited to:
- impacts of colonization and intergenerational trauma: consideration of housing Elders in more supportive and dignified accommodations other than congregate evacuation centers
- deployment of cultural mental health supports
- language
- providing traditional food and reimbursing loss of traditional food
- spaces for ceremonial practices: support of drum dances and feasts at evacuation centers
- location of evacuation by ascertaining whether evacuees could shelter on the land
- First Nations security personnel
- applying specific criteria during an emergency rather than negotiated afterwards to meet specific needs of: people living in poverty; Elders and children; women and 2SLGBTQ individuals; people with disabilities and chronic health issues