Yellowknife city councillors Stacie Arden-Smith (left) and Rob Warburton (right) met with Red Deer Mayor Ken Johnston at Red Deer City Hall on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. (City of Red Deer)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

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

Aug 23, 2023 | 7:27 PM

Two Yellowknife city councillors currently evacuated to Red Deer say the city’s hospitality has been top notch.

However, for Rob Warburton and Stacie Arden-Smith, who met with Red Deer Mayor Ken Johnston on Wednesday, leaving their respective homes behind was far from easy.

As of Wednesday, 933 people from the Yellowknife region had been registered at Red Deer’s reception centre as a massive fire burns just 15 kilometres from the Northwest Territories’ capital.

Upwards of 20,000 are scattered across Alberta, not just from Yellowknife, but the areas of Hay River, Enterprise and Fort Smith.

“It was definitely surreal leaving the city because Yellowknife has never gone through an evacuation of any kind. We’re usually a hub for other communities.” says Arden-Smith, a second-term councillor and lifelong resident.

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“It was a lot of panic because most people have never been through this. We have one road to go out on and we didn’t know what we’d be faced with. The smoke was quite horrendous.”

The situation has put a lot things into perspective, says Arden-Smith who in recent years dealt with a house fire.

“It was really a horrific sight to drive through. That said, arriving at the reception centre in Red Deer was amazing. They were welcoming and had all the information and necessities like clothing and hygiene products. It’s all been very heartwarming,” Arden-Smith, a Red Deer College alumnus, adds.

“The City’s team here knows that if they need assistance, Councillor Warburton and I are here to help in any possible way.”

Warburton agrees the welcome has been second to none.

“The reception has been unbelievable, very organized, and I’ve heard nothing but great things from other evacuees,” says Warburton, who was on a family vacation in Ontario when the city emptied. “On one hand, I’m thankful I didn’t have to go through the drive out, but it was really hard not to be there physically to help people in that moment.”

The Wainwright, Alberta native has family in Red Deer, hence the decision to head here.

“Watching from afar, I was madly texting friends and coworkers to see how I could assist. I felt really powerless to do anything, but did manage to assist some folks with supplies like fuel. My stock at home got all shared out,” he says gratefully.

“To Red Deer residents, we’re really thankful for all the help. People have opened up their homes, taken care of pets; people here have gone above and beyond.”

That’s something Mayor Johnston says is something Red Deerians can be proud of.

“I said at council this week that cities often get tested by tragedies which befall another city, province or territory. From a pragmatic perspective, it has tested our ability to respond, and our preparedness which we practice quite faithfully and rigorously throughout the year. It’s important to have that system and I think we’ve passed that test,” he says.

“From a pride perspective, the ability for us to say we can stand in the breach when trouble comes is something we can all feel good about as Red Deerians.”

Johnston clarifies the province contacted the City when it came to deciding where Alberta could open reception centres, and that’s because the province knows how well-prepared the City is, the mayor explains.

He says Warburton and Arden-Smith know the City will help evacuees in any way possible, and that they will be followed-up with in the days to come.

“They want to be with their people at this time, and they’ll have a lot of work to do when they get back, in terms of restoration and intergovernmental work. I’m very impressed with both of them. Yellowknife is in good hands.”

Arden-Smith, who is of the Tlicho people, which is one of the First Nations affected by the fire, echos that there will be plenty of discussions to be had when the day comes they can return, which at this time is unknown.

“It is fair to say that,” she says, asked if there’s some higher degree of difficulty for First Nations communities — in this case the Tlicho, the Yellowknife Dene, and the Inuvialuit — to undertake the evacuation process.

“Those local governments are trying to reach their citizens to help how they can. They’re also limited with funding and capacity,” she says. “When we eventually look back on this, there’ll be lots of policies that are rewritten and documents started on new emergency measures. It’s a matter of governments speaking with one another, the territorial one with the Indigenous ones, so we can know where people will be and how to better assist one another.

“This is all a learning curve, and a horrific one at that.”

As of Aug. 23 at 4 p.m., The City of Red Deer had welcomed 933 evacuees. In addition, there have been 46 restaurant partnerships to provide 10,888 meal vouchers, 25 hotels who’ve helped coordinate 4,000 nights, and more than 1,000 pounds of pet food distributed through the Central Alberta Humane Society.