Articles by James O'Connor

Featured, News, Weather, Wildfires June 23, 2024

Fort Good Hope wildfire ‘aggressively’ burning away from community

A new fire north of Fort Smith Airport, but posing no threats to communities, cabins, or infrastructure, says NWT Fire


There are currently 17 wildfires in the Northwest Territories, with 12 of them labelled as out of control. Many of those blazes are small and simply being monitored, but some remain a threat to property or people. The fire at Fort Good Hope, called VQ001, that caused the evacuation of…

Featured, Industry, News June 19, 2024

Det’on Cho beefs up portfolio with food-service distributor

Det’on Cho Management has acquired local food distributor Northbest Distributors Limited. Northbest is a full-line food-service industry distributor, since 1999 supplying food to stores, restaurants, mining camps, and institutions across the territory. Mark Lewis is president and CEO of Det’on Cho Management, the ever-growing financial arm of the Yellowknives Dene…

Featured, News, Weather, Wildfires June 18, 2024

Mainly cloudy today with a chance of rain or thundershowers at Fort Good Hope

Wildfire remains outside the evacuated community’s boundaries; no structures have been confirmed lost as of this morning


Some erratic weather today will see the Fort Good Hope wildfire chanced upon by a thundershower, then pushed by easterly winds, followed by gusts up to 20 km/h, NWT Fire stated this morning. Frank McKay is the Information Officer for the fire, known as VQ001. “Today’s weather forecast calls for…

Environment, Featured, News, Weather, Wildfires June 17, 2024

Second fire diverts some crews from Fort Good Hope wildfire

A human-caused fire outside the main evacuation community of Norman Wells forces more contingency plans


As firefighters and volunteers were desperately fighting to save Fort Good Hope after a campfire wasn’t extinguished, another “human caused” fire outside of Norman Wells drew crews away for a while on Sunday night. In Norman Wells, there are 225 evacuees from Fort Good Hope, whose lives were turned upside…

Featured, News, Weather, Wildfires June 17, 2024

Fort Good Hope evacuees can apply for Emergency Evacuation Funding

At 1,300 hectares, the fire may continue to grow today but away from the community, says NWT Fire


Under a state of emergency, the community of Fort Good Hope was evacuated on Saturday, as a blazingly fast wildfire kicked up after a campfire wasn’t properly extinguished nearby. Fort Good Hope Chief Collin Pierrot posted online throughout the weekend’s ordeal. “We did not lose any structures or buildings or…

Featured, Health, News, Politics June 14, 2024

New lab test appointment policy gets failing grade from MLA Julian Morse

‘We seem to have broken something while trying to improve it,’ says Frame Lake rep, responding to constituents' complaints


Two months ago, the NWT Health and Social Services Authority announced new options for accessing outpatient lab services at Stanton Territorial Hospital, effective immediately. However, the suite of ways to access outpatient lab services at Stanton has soured some feelings among clients who preferred the old method, the NWT Assembly…

Education, Featured, Health, Justice, News, Politics June 13, 2024

Midwifery gets a breather as Finance Minister reverses some proposed budget cuts

Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek promises Behchokǫ̀ will be part of planned program expansion before end of 2027


The territorial government has partially reversed plans to cut nearly $1 million from midwifery services as part of its 2024 proposed budget. Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek made the announcement at a committee hearing late Wednesday afternoon. “Midwives provide a valuable service to support health care in a culturally sensitive and…

Featured, Housing, Industry, News, Politics June 12, 2024

Fort Good Hope Construction Centre wins ‘millions of dollars’ from Canada Mortgage and Housing

Training and housing go hand in hand in Rádeyı̨lı̨ Kǫ́ (Fort Good Hope), says MLA Shauna Morgan


The proposed Fort Good Hope Construction Centre just received a large financial prize from Canada Mortgage and Housing and “is exactly the type of local economic developments that this territory needs,” says Shauna Morgan, MLA for Yellowknife North. “Today I’d like to focus on a positive story of a community…