Some volunteers and fundraisers are speaking out about a perceived lack of response from the N.W.T. and federal governments during flooding in the Dehcho.
Posted: May 13, 2021 5:21 PM CT | Last Updated: May 13
Rob Warburton has two kids aged three and five. He s comfortable sending his kids back to school after a two-week shutdown due to an outbreak of COVID-19. (submitted by Rob Warburton)
Rob Warburton had to isolate with his family because of the COVID-19 outbreak at N.J. Macpherson School. He said he trusts the testing being done and is not worried about his children returning to school on Monday. I don t feel it s any more of a risk than it was before sending my kids back to school after we get the all clear, he said. I m comfortable sending my kids back.
COVID-19: Northwest Territories Reopening Schools on May 17
In Yellowknife, Caroline Cochrane, the premier of the Northwest Territories, Julie Green, the minister of health and social services, Dr. Kami Kandola, the chief public health officer, and Dr. AnneMarie Pegg, the territorial medical director, provide an update on the response to COVID-19 in their jurisdiction. They are joined virtually by R.J. Simpson, the minister of education, culture and employment. The province is aiming to move students back to in-person learning on May 17. An outbreak linked to a school in Yellowknife caused school closures and mask mandates in Yellowknife, Dettah, Ndilo and Behchokǫ̀. More than 1,000 people were also forced to self-isolate. The premier also comments on flooding from the Mackenzie River that has forced hundreds of Fort Simpson and Jean Marie River residents to evacuate. (May 12, 2021) (no interpretation)
Flooding forces 700 people out of their homes in Fort Simpson, N.W.T.
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By The Canadian Press on May 11, 2021.
The mouths of the Mackenzie River and the Liard River are shown near Fort Simpson, N.W.T., on Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand
FORT SIMPSON, N.W.T. – A mayor in the Northwest Territories was watching for movement in slabs of ice and snow sitting on top of one of two rivers threatening his community on Tuesday.
About 700 of Fort Simpson’s 1,200 residents were forced from their homes after water levels rose dangerously on the weekend.
Dr. Kami Kandola, the chief public health officer, introduced new public health measures for the return to classes, which she said should occur Monday, May 17.