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After a wildfire tore through the forest around Kakisa, N.W.T., in 2014, Lloyd Chicot began noticing changes in the lake: the pickerel grew fatter, and the pelicans moved in. Chicot, the chief of Ka'a'gee Tu First Nation, attributes the change partly to climate change and partly to runoff from the fire, which brought nutrients and debris into the lake. "Right after the fire, there was a lot of burnt driftwood and that kind of stuff," he recalled.
On a sunny Tuesday evening in Fort Simpson, N.W.T., Derek and Julia Erasmus cook up a dinner of waffles and sausages as their two young daughters play outside. Watching them, you wouldn't know just how difficult the past two years have been. They were one of 10 families who lost their house when the community flooded in 2021. "It's kind of just a huge life-changing event," Derek said. "We kind of thought we were going to retire in that house some day … then those plans were all gone after that."
Jon Widney can't help but smile as he talks about the way students studying to be water treatment operators are being taught today. "It would have been an easier learning process, that's for sure," said Widney. Widney is an instructor in the water and wastewater operator program at Yukon University in Whitehorse. That process he's referring to is a new learning tool the university is developing in partnership with the Calgary NGO Water Movement.
The Délįnę Got'įnę government and its federal and territorial counterparts have agreed on further protection for Great Bear Lake or TsáTué, a UNESCO-recognized biosphere reserve. The new agreement will enhance conservation of the area and will lead to long-term funding. It also formally recognizes the Sahtugot'ine's millennia-long stewardship in the Northwest Territories region. "It's a step in the right direction," said Danny Gaudet, the Délįnę Got'įnę government's Ɂek'wahtı̨dǝ́ or chief. "It's finally given us the ability to actually sit at the table to talk about the preservation of water, the lake, and the water bed and the land in and around Great Bear Lake."
The Tłı̨chǫ Government expressed "concern" over the N.W.T's decision not to approve an application by Diavik Diamond Mine to begin a process of progressive reclamation. The Tłı̨chǫ raised its issue with the decision in a letter dated July 27, stating the problem is around jurisdiction. The letter was addressed to Shane Thompson, the minister of environment and natural resources, claiming he is ignoring the treaty by rejecting a recommendation by the Wek'èezhı̀ı Land and Water Board, the land management authority for the area created after the Tłı̨chǫ agreement.
Devastating flooding last spring has many in the farming community around Hay River, N.W.T., contemplating their future. Andrew Cassidy and Helen Green, owners of Greenwood Gardens, are still deciding on their next move as they grapple with what's left of their home and business after floodwaters tore through the Paradise Gardens valley in May. "The flooding was really damaging, like it washed away soil, it washed away our raised beds," Cassidy said.
Daniel T'seleie, who is with the Keepers of Water, and Indigenous Climate Action, both Indigenous-led organisation focusing on climate change action, said climate change solutions on the agenda for COP27, like carbon trading, don't address what really needs to be done. "The only way to stop climate change," he said, "is to stop the extraction and use of fossil fuels. If that's not the flagship then we're not going to stop the climate crisis."
Water services are being restored in Hay River, N.W.T., as the premier, minister of municipal and community affairs, and MLAs for Hay River and the Dehcho region prepare to visit the flood-stricken community on Monday. Lift Station No. 1, which serves much of the town, was brought back online Sunday after "extensive electrical and mechanical work" was completed over the weekend. The lift station was almost completely submerged during flooding earlier this month.
Cheryl Cli’s house is so new, it’s still in the packaging. The modular build sits on a muddy lot on safe, high ground about five minutes outside of Fort Simpson, N.W.T. Some of the industrial plastic is ripped away, revealing its cherry red siding. On this April day, the air smells of meat and veggies cooking over an open fire. Cli is having a cookout with friends and family to “claim” the lot. Earlier in the week, she noticed some firewood had been taken. “It’s OK, they probably needed it,” she says.
With a highly anticipated spring breakup underway in the Dehcho, residents in Fort Liard and Fort Simpson N.W.T., are seeing rising water. In Fort Liard, water is reaching the main road in the community, falling about 400 meters short from the general store. "It's happening so fast, it seems," said Robert Low, who works at the band office there. He said that some people are currently stranded at the general store and that others are being taken to safety. The ice along the river appeared to be flowing, up until a big sheet of ice came, then Low said: "everything stopped."
