Red Deer Mayor Ken Johnston and N.W.T. Premier Caroline Cochrane met at the receptio centre for evacuees in Red Deer on Friday. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

grateful

Northwest Territories’ Premier Cochrane thanks Alberta for its kindness amid nightmare

Aug 25, 2023 | 5:59 PM

Caroline Cochrane, Northwest Territories Premier, paid a visit to the reception centre in Red Deer on Friday, expressing her warmest thanks to Mayor Ken Johnston and local citizens, as well as all Albertans who’ve welcomed evacuees with open arms.

Thursday of last week, The City of Red Deer opened up a reception centre at the G.H. Dawe to welcome and register wildfire evacuees. The centre reached capacity at 1,020 people yesterday.

In that week, The City distributed more than 10,000 meal vouchers to 57 local restaurants, worked with 25 hotels to coordinate a combined 4,000+ nights, and helped Central Alberta Humane Society share 1,600 pounds of pet food.

Meantime, an approximate total of 20,000 evacuees, mostly from Yellowknife but also several nearby communities, await word on when they may be able to return home. As of Friday, a very large, out-of-control fire still burns just 15 km from the territorial capital. It was mapped at noon today at 167,082 hectares, and very little precipitation is forecast for the coming week.

According to the Territory, the next 48 hours are important in reducing the threat to the capital region with the possibility of fire escaping the perimeter and eastward growth.

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Some 337 personnel including Canadian Armed Forces, on top of City of Yellowknife emergency crews, remain in the fight.

“Albertans have been so gracious. They’ve gone above and beyond to help people. I’ve seen people standing on the side of the road handing out water and gift cards to people for no recognition. It’s regained my faith in people. I can never express just how grateful I am,” Cochrane remarked.

Nobley, Cochrane was not quick to leave the territory when the evacuation order came down. She spent a large chunk of her day last Thursday (Aug. 17) roaming Yellowknife with a companion she’d picked up to help find some of the city’s homeless. Her helper was himself someone experiencing homelessness and knew where to look.

A social worker by trade, Cochrane ran homeless shelters for 20 years and always opined that the government didn’t do enough for the most vulnerable.

“I don’t want to pump myself up here; I want to pump up that one man I met, because we spent the full day until 12:30 a.m. taking folks to the airport,” she recounted. “He put himself at risk to save others. People think the homeless are not good enough, or they should just go get a job, but everybody has a heart. I was there when the last plane went out and he was the last one on. It warmed my heart.”

As it pertains to folks experiencing homelessness, they too are dispersed across Alberta and in Winnipeg, she shared. The territory will be working with its privacy commissioner as well as shelters in reception communities to identify those people and ensure they receive proper aid.

Continuing, Cochrane said that what she saw in people as the city emptied was fear, plus uncertainty about what was happening. Long lineups were the common sight, loaded with people who had nothing but the clothing on their backs, anxiously waiting to depart.

“One thing I did notice was despite what people were going through, their own trauma and worries, people were kind to each other,” she said. “When Canadians are facing hardship, they help each other, and that’s the message I want to carry.”

(rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

Cochrane, who ultimately evacuated to Edmonton, stated lastly that she’s here to stay with residents until the green light to return is given. She’ll also be visiting other evacuation centres in the days to come.

“It’s inappropriate, in my opinion, for any politician [to stay] when a community is evacuated. We need to leave that to firefighters and the people who know what they’re doing. Sometimes politicians get in the way, so I’ll stay [here now] until we can all return home,” she said. “For those who are religious, please pray. We need 10 days of hard rain. For those who have the financial ability, we’re working with the N.W.T. United Way. I don’t know how long this is going to be.”

Cochrane also took a moment to acknowledge the citizens of Hay River, who are mercilessly part of this current evacuation. The town was already evacuated this past May due to another wildfire, and last summer due to flooding.

In Mayor Johnston’s remarks, he conveyed how grateful the City and its citizens have been to help.

“It means so much when I see the quality of leadership in Premier Cochrane, and that she would come and say thank you to us during an extraordinarily busy time. This is a leader I’d argue has had little sleep. This meeting means a tremendous amount to me and our entire citizenry,” said Johnston.

“I said earlier this week that cities get tested; not just our hearts, but tested from a preparedness perspective, so to be able to jump in for you and your wonderful people, it has made us feel that we were there when you needed us.”

READ MORE: Yellowknife city councillors praise Red Deer’s “unbelievable” response for evacuees

G.H. Dawe reception centre (6175 67 Street) hours are now 8 a.m. until 9 p.m today, and then 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. daily through Sept. 5. To learn more, visit reddeer.ca/evacuee. New evacuees are not being accepted at this time as the centre is at capacity.

Registered evacuees will receive free transit and recreation passes. More information is available at the reception centre.

For more on the current status of the wildfire threatening Yellowknife and other parts of N.W.T., visit gov.nt.ca.