Yellowknife City Officials announced earlier this week that a plan to return to the city has been made, though they emphasize that residents are not allowed to return at this time.
Sheila Bassi-Kellett, the City Manager for Yellowknife, shared that since the city has not received any damage from the fire, one step of the plan, checking for damage, is able to be skipped, moving the plan further along. While the phased re-entry plan is already making good progress, there is no set date for when the general public will be able to come back to the city.
Jay Boast, the Emergency Management Organization Information Officer with the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, made it clear that keeping the public away until the time is right is not just for their own safety, but also to help the plan move along as smoothly as possible.
“Until we tell people it is time, until it is safe, the current status of the highways being closed, check stops being in place, barricades being up, continues. We really want to stress this point that it is not time now. You really do create difficulty for the people that are working hard to try and create a re-entry program, and the resources that are trying to make sure everything is ready for re-entry.
People who try to re-enter before it is time create delays, create problems, and we know how hard this is to wait and how hard it is to be patient, but to be fair to your friends, be fair to your neighbours, be fair to your community, everyone deserves to be safe.”
Boast added that if a person tries to re-enter the territory at this time who is not an essential worker will simply be turned away.
