Volume 48 Issue 12 $1.00 Town 'got lucky' in avoiding ... · "In some respects, we feel that we got...

12
Town 'got lucky' in avoiding flood Break-up declared over; fire chief defends last week's evacuation order Volume 48 Issue 12 WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2020 $1.00 (.95 + GST) Publication mail Contract #40012157 7 71605 00200 2 "We also want to be a choice destination within the Northwest Territories." –Glenn Smith, Hay River's assistant SAO, on the town's new tourism strategy, page 10. H UB HAY RIVER, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES THE Eyes on the ice Paul Bickford/NNSL photo Micayla Gammon, left, and Krista Gammon watch the breakup of the Hay River in front of Bob McMeekin Chamber Park May 3. Read the full story on page 3. Health officer discusses lifting restrictions News Council approves new three-year tourism strategy Community Riders launch weekly GPS- based bike race Sports

Transcript of Volume 48 Issue 12 $1.00 Town 'got lucky' in avoiding ... · "In some respects, we feel that we got...

Page 1: Volume 48 Issue 12 $1.00 Town 'got lucky' in avoiding ... · "In some respects, we feel that we got lucky with how the water drained out and moved through the West Channel. It could

Town 'got lucky' in avoiding flood

Break-up declared over; fire chief defends last week's evacuation order

Volume 48 Issue 12 WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2020 $1.00 (.95 + GST)

Publication mail Contract #40012157

7 71605 00200 2

"We also want to be a choice destination within the Northwest Territories."

–Glenn Smith, Hay River's assistant SAO, on the town's new tourism strategy, page 10.

HubHay RiveR, NoRtHwest teRRitoRies

T H e

Eyes on the ice

Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Micayla Gammon, left, and Krista Gammon watch the breakup of the Hay River in front of Bob McMeekin Chamber Park May 3. Read the full story on page 3.

Health officer discusses lifting restrictions

News

Council approves new three-year tourism strategy

Community

Riders launch weekly GPS-based bike race

Sports

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WedNeSday, May 13, 2020 ▼ 3www.hayriverhub.com

Did we get it wrong?Hay River Hub is committed to get-

ting facts and names right. With that goes a commitment to acknowledge mistakes and run corrections. If you spot an error in Hay River Hub, call 874-2802 and ask to speak to an editor, or email [email protected]. We'll get a correction or clarification in as soon as we can.

There are no second thoughts by the Hay River official who rec-ommended the evacuation of Vale Island because of potential flooding, which didn't actually happen.

"It was a good decision," said Ross Potter, director of protective services with the Town of Hay River.

"I really don't like to evacu-ate people, but I'll totally stand by my decision on that. With every-thing the way it was shaping up, I really felt that we were going to get wet."

Town council voted for the evacuation on the evening of May 4.

"I made the recommendation that we pull the pin," said Potter, who is also the community's fire chief.

One of the major factors in that recommendation was the volume of water coming over Alexandra Falls, south of Enterprise.

"That, plus the amount of flow that was coming from down south," said Potter, adding that the high water upstream and the water head-ing towards town made the evacua-tion recommendation a fairly easy decision to make.

When the evacuation order was issued, more than 1,200 cubic metres of water a second was going over Alexandra Falls and there was ice in the Hay River area from the Pine Point Bridge to

Great Slave Lake.As for what happened to prevent

significant flooding on Vale Island, Potter points to the Hay River's West Channel, noting the ice and water behaved just as the town would have asked it to behave.

"I would suggest that Mother Nature was on our side, finally," he said.

Potter explained there was a small release of water and ice on the evening of May 4 and then a large release the following day that went onto the lake – most of it to the west, some straight out into the lake and some towards the east.

Ice behavedIf the ice and water hadn't behaved

that way, he believes there would have been significant flooding.

Potter said that, if he is faced with the same set of circumstances next year, he would again recom-mend an evacuation.

As it turned out, there was only minor flooding – but no property damage – in a couple of yards and some ditches in West Channel, near the Oxbow Creek.

"We were able to curb the flow of the water from the Oxbow with some gravel and that type of thing," said Potter. "We dammed it up, so it stopped the flooding from that perspective."

As for the evacuation itself, he thinks it went really well, noting

members of the fire department went door-to-door to advise people of the evacuation order.

"They got a fairly good response from the people that they talked to," he said. "I believe we had something like 32 homes that said they weren't leaving, but that's to be expected."

The evacuation order was lifted on the morning of May 6.

As of May 7 at 1 p.m., Potter declared the spring breakup com-plete, which happens when both the West Channel and East Channel are running free to Great Slave Lake.

'Right decision'Glenn Smith, assistant senior

administrative officer with the town, agrees with Potter's decision to call for an evacuation.

"It was the right decision," said Smith. "We know and history knows and dictates what can happen out there – and given the signs, it was a very risky time."

First and foremost, the town pro-tects residents, he said.

"In some respects, we feel that we got lucky with how the water drained out and moved through the West Channel. It could have been a lot worse with maybe a little less luck."

There are an estimated 190 house-holds and more than 450 people liv-ing on Vale Island, which includes West Channel and Old Town.

Unofficially, 362 individuals from about 153 households evacu-ated.

Smith was pleased with that high level of compliance.

The evacuees were accommo-dated in various places, including in 76 hotel rooms in Hay River.

Nine households totalling 24 people stayed in an RV park set up at the Hay River Community Cen-tre, while others stayed in private accommodations.

"There seemed to be a fair num-ber of people that parked their RVs elsewhere within town or had cab-ins," said Smith.

Six households with a total of 15 people drove to hotels in Yellow-knife.

Smith said the registration centre at the Hay River Community Cen-tre was very busy on the night of the evacuation, even though many people registered by telephone.

One of the complicating factors in planning for an evacuation was ensuring safe social distancing at the registration centre in light of the Covid-19 crisis.

Smith noted the town has com-mitments from the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs to cover the costs of the evacuation and the town will have very minor expenses.

As of late last week, he did not have an estimate of how much the evacuation will cost.

PAul [email protected]

NeWsBriefs

17 in MACA isolationin Hub as of May 6

The number of people in GNWT-organized self-isolation in Hay River is about the same as in mid-April.

"For self-isolation in Hay River, currently we have 17 people occu-pying 10 rooms," said Ivan Russell, director of public safety with the Department of Municipal and Com-munity Affairs, speaking on May 6.

Russell noted the numbers fluc-tuate.

As of April 15, there were 18 people in GNWT-organized self-isolation in Hay River as a preventa-tive measure against the spread of Covid-19.

In all of the NWT, 331 people have stayed at self-isolation centres and moved on after the required 14 days.

Under a public health order, people entering the NWT must self-isolate for two weeks, either in their own homes – except in smaller communities – or in accommoda-tions provided by MACA in Hay River, Yellowknife, Inuvik and Fort Smith.

GNWT launchesCovid-19 website

The GNWT has launched a new stand-alone, cross-government web-site bringing all the information and resources about the territory's Covid-19 response under one roof.

The new site is www.gov.nt.ca/Covid-19.

"It is important for our residents to have a single place to go and find the most up-to-date information and I am confident that this new web-site will help connect people to the information they need and make this challenging time a little easier on all of us," said Premier Caroline Cochrane in a May 9 news release.

Restaurants, barscan deliver alcohol

Effective May 8, the territorial Department of Finance introduced amendments to the Northwest Territories' Liquor Regulations in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The amended regulations allow all Class A and Class B licensed establishments in the NWT to sell beer, wine and spirits for takeout and delivery without the need for an off-premises extension to their licences.

Prior to the changes, Class A and Class B licensed establishments with off-premises extensions to their licences were permitted to sell beer only and delivery was prohibited.

The amendments are intended to help restaurants and bars remain in business and keep staff employed, while encouraging physical distan-cing.

There are certain restrictions that licensed establishments must follow under the new regulations, including no sales for takeout or delivery on Sunday or after 10 p.m. and limits on the amount of alcohol per customer.

Town's director of protective servicessays evacuation call was right decision

No second thoughtsPaul Bickford/NNSL photo

Ross Potter, director of protective services with the Town of Hay River and the community's fire chief, stands next to the freely-flowing East Channel on May 8. Potter recommended the evacuation of Vale Island on May 4 because of the threat of flooding during spring breakup.

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A request by a Hay River business has resulted in an extension to the expiry date of bulk tickets from Canadian North.

Ashton Chartered Account-ants had contacted Can-adian North on May 1 about obtaining an extension or some other consideration for unused tickets for travel between Hay River and Yellowknife that were set to expire on May 9. That was a year after the tickets were purchased from First Air before it merged with Canadian North.

In an e-mail to Canadian North, the company noted it had purchased 40 tickets, but 15 remained unused.

"We have had to cancel a lot of our travel that generally occurs in this period due to Covid-19," the email stated. "Is there something in place pro-tecting these tickets from expiry? If there isn't, we would like to request an extension or possible refund."

Later on May 1, an offi-cial of Canadian North replied, "We have reviewed your request with our senior man-agement and, unfortunately, we are unable to extend any previously issued quick tickets. Any unused tickets will expire

one year from the date of issue. I apologize for the inconven-ience and that we cannot be more supportive with your request."

As a result, Tod Ashton, a partner with Ashton Chartered Accountants, emailed the Hay

River MLAs about the prob-lem and copied the message to The Hub.

On May 7, The Hub con-tacted Dan Valin, the manager of marketing and communica-tions with Canadian North.

The next morning Valin

replied with a written state-ment.

"We understand that the current Covid-19 situation and changes to our schedule has made using these bulk tickets more difficult," he stated.

"After further review, we have made the decision to allow a one-time automatic extension on the expiry for all remaining unused bulk tickets part of this program. The extension will extend the expiry of these tickets to Nov-ember 30th 2020."

Valin noted that customers who participate in the program are not required to contact Canadian North because the extension will be done auto-matically.

"We will continue to mon-itor the travel restrictions and re-evaluate this policy at a later date if the current travel restrictions continue for an extended period of time," he added.

Ashton was very pleased with that response.

"I think it's great," he said. "That's what I had hoped for. I

had hoped that their response would be to grant us an exten-sion and hopefully we're able to use those tickets by the end of November. I'm really happy with that response."

In comments to The Hub before the Canadian North policy change, Ashton had explained that a lot of travel by Ashton Chartered Accountants is normally done at this time of year for audit work.

"We had been expecting to use them, but of course we haven't been able to use them the last couple of months," he said of the tickets, explain-ing that, while auditing work has decreased, so has the number of Canadian North flights between Hay River and Yellowknife.

Again before the change of heart by Canadian North, Ash-ton noted that many companies are granting courtesies to cus-tomers in these difficult times to allow them to extend terms or receive refunds or credits.

Ashton estimated the 15 remaining tickets have a value of about $4,000.

After concern by Ashton Chartered Accountants,expiry date for tickets has been changed to Nov. 30

Request gets Canadian Northto extend expiry of bulk tickets

Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

A Canadian North aircraft arrives at Hay River Merlyn Carter Airport on May 7.

PAul [email protected]

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We wonder how Dr. Kami Kandola is feeling these days.

We're not trying to do any Dr. Phil-level psychoanalytical stuff here, but we're just guessing that Kandola, the NWT's chief public health officer, might be feeling a bit unappreciated. We would if we were in her shoes.

she has led the GNWT's effort that has so far stopped Covid-19 from gain-ing a foothold in the NWT – despite there having been five travel-related cases in the territory. That is an impres-sive feat.

Of course, Kandola would never admit to something like being unappre-ciated, but that is not going to stop us from speculating.

Northerners – those of us in the NWT, the Yukon and Nunavut – have so far not experienced the worst of Covid-19. That is, no doubt, partly due to the rela-tive remoteness of the Canadian North, but it is also due to the efforts of health officials in the three territories.

Honestly, we have sometimes won-dered what kind of pressure that puts on a person.

Most people just have to worry about their work – if they still have jobs – or car-ing for themselves and their families.

Kandola is responsible for the health of over 40,000 people and trying to keep a worldwide pandemic out of the NWT.

To say that is a daunting task seems like an extreme understatement.

she is really in a position that was going to draw criticism one way or the other.

Impose restrictions that halted Covid-19 in the Northwest Territories and get criticized for the effects on people's lives. Not impose sufficient restrictions and see Covid-19 spread in the NWT

and get criticized for the effects on people's lives.

However, criticism doesn't mean that we don't recognize the work that Kandola has done.

The Hub has been particu-larly critical of some of the

restrictions on civil liberties, such as the ban on indoor gatherings and the cre-ation of a tip line for citizens to report one another for violations of those restrictions. But we never questioned Kandola's dedication to protecting the people of the NWT.

We are not ashamed to admit that we believe that civil liberties are just as important as health. some might think that is insane, but that's what we believe.

As a doctor, Kandola has dedicated her life to promoting health and we admire and respect that.

Along with the other chief public

health officers across the country, her efforts during this Covid-19 crisis have been remarkable.

We predict that years from now Can-ada will issue a series of 13 stamps – assuming there are still letters being written – featuring the chief public health officers in the provinces and terri-tories during this historic Covid-19 crisis.

It is no exaggeration to say that they are playing a critical role right now in shaping Canada's future.

Now, Kandola and her team have the unenviable task of easing Covid-19 restrictions to let society breathe a little without endangering public health.

so while we might object and com-plain and call for the restrictions to be eased, it doesn't mean that we don't admire the work that Dr. Kandola is doing.

she deserves the gratitude of every-one in the Northwest Territories.

Kami, protector of the North

eDITOrIAl

HubOpiniOnHistorical Quote

"Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition." – Timothy Leary

Are you happy or worried that the GNWTplans to ease some Covid-19 restrictions?

You Said It!

Marny Twigge: "I am happy. From what I have heard, what they want to ease, I think, is sort of necessary for people's wellbeing ... I think everyone is pretty well versed in what they have to do and they know there'll be some chan-ges. It's not going to go back to the normal that we knew."

Helen MacDonald: "as long as they're being cautious, I don't mind at all. I do agree that we should be able to visit outdoors as long as we keep the distance."

Bruce Green: "I have a lot of confidence in the people who have been dealing with the crisis in the territory. I think they've done a good job up to this point and I'm confi-dent that they'll be careful and thoughtful in easing the restrictions."

linda Duford: "a little happy and a little bit worried. I'm mostly happy because the GNWT has done a great job of controlling and putting safeguards in place ... But, of course, I'm a wee bit worried because you hope that we're not opening it up too soon."

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Dr. Kami Kandola, chief public health officer for the NWT, spoke in Hay River on March 3 about the coronavirus.

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In the absence of organized recrea-tional activities in this time of Covid-19, a Hay River couple have launched their own.

On May 9, Dale Loutit and her boy-friend Bobby Campbell held their first bike race around the community.

Loutit explained it was her idea to start what she hopes will be weekly races against Campbell because they enjoy competing against each other.

"I challenged him because we were bike riding one day and we raced each other home," she said, noting she won that impromptu race. "After that, I was like, 'Let's do it as a challenge and let's invite people.'"

They agreed the bike challenge is related to the lack of recreational activ-ities due to facilities being closed because of Covid-19.

"We're trying to find unique ways to entertain ourselves," said Loutit.

Campbell said the races will be a way to help pass the time. Plus, he said he

agreed to the competition because he likes to win against his girlfriend.

"I don't want to lose to her," he said. "I'd never hear the end of it."

As it turned out, Campbell won the five-kilometre race on May 9 with a time of 15 minutes and 59 seconds, while Loutit finished in 18 minutes and one second.

Campbell was riding his new bike."I haven't been on a bike in years. This

will probably be the third day," he said before the May 9 race. "It's just something to do, really. Get out and do something."

Something fun to doLoutit has been biking for a couple of

years."So we thought it would be fun to race

each other," she said. "Then we thought it would be fun to race other people to encourage biking, since the biking season has just started."

No one else showed up for the May 9 race, but they are hopeful that others will participate when the weather gets warmer.

Loutit is the recreation programming supervisor with the Town of Hay River,

but the bike racing against Campbell is a personal activity.

She noted they don't race side by side, but time their races over a mapped-out route with an app using GPS.

"So one of us is going to leave five min-utes before the other one and then we're going to track our times," she explained. "So whoever does the fastest wins."

Loutit will be taking the competition seriously.

"I'm going full steam, because I want to win," she said. "Definitely full steam."

The couple would like to see the race attract some of their friends in the future.

"The more people, I think, the more fun it would be," said Campbell.

Loutit noted that due to current Covid-19 restrictions there can only be 10 people gathering for a race.

"But even one or two others would be great," she said. "If people are interested, they're welcome to contact me or do their own. I love sharing my ideas. If other people enjoy my ideas, then go for it."

Loutit and Campbell will announce on Facebook whenever they plan to hold a race.

Couple launch bike races in absence of other activities

A personal competition

PAul [email protected]

Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Bobby Campbell, left, and Dale Loutit held their first bicycle race on May 9. They hope to hold the races weekly when possible and will be inviting their Face-book friends to join the competition.

HubspORTs

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www.hayriverhub.com8 ▼ WedNeSday, May 13, 2020

The 2018 death of a Hay River woman in British Columbia has been ruled accidental in a coroner's report.

Brittany Martel, 27, was discovered deceased on the side of a highway, about 60 km south of Merritt, B.C.

"I find that Ms. Brittany Marie Ruby Martel died in Merritt on July 20, 2018, of cardiac ischemia due to or as a consequence of methamphetamine and cocaine toxicity," wrote coroner Susan Stapleton in her April 21 report. "I classify this death as accidental and make no recommendations."

Cardiac ischemia  refers to the reduc-tion of blood flow to the heart, preventing the heart muscle from receiving enough oxygen.

An autopsy found no evidence of trau-matic injury.

According Stapleton's report, a motor-ist had exited his vehicle to stretch during a closure of Highway 5 and discovered a deceased female down a small embank-ment.

The female – later identified as Martel – was fully clothed, but barefoot.

The coroner's report noted that she was travelling from out of province with a friend to the lower mainland of B.C.

"Her friend reported that during the early morning hours of July 17, 2018, they stopped at Britton Creek rest stop to sleep," the report stated. "The friend fell asleep for approximately four hours. When she

awoke, Ms. Martel was nowhere to be seen. The friend then continued on her journey to the lower mainland. Ms. Martel was not reported missing."

The friend travelling with Martel was not identified in the coroner's report.

Martel was seen by numerous witnesses driving on Highway 5 between July 17 and July 20, 2018, in the areas around the Brit-ton Creek rest stop and where she was found on July 22, 2018.

"There were no reported sightings of Ms. Martel after July 20, 2018," Stapleton noted. "A review of Ms. Martel's cellphone indicated her last outgoing call was made the morning of July 17, 2018."

According to the coroner's report, an investigation of the scene where Martel was found did not reveal any illicit substances or drug paraphernalia.

Her shoes were found about 35 metres from where she was located. Her purse and cellphone were found at the Britton Creek rest stop.

The RCMP investigated the death and ruled out foul play.

In her report, Stapleton noted that collat-eral information indicated that Martel had a history of problems with illicit substance use.

"Her friend that she was travelling with indicated that on the drive through B.C., Ms. Martel appeared to be experiencing hallucinations, which she believed to be from withdrawal of substances," the coroner wrote. "Family indicated she had contem-plated entering treatment in the past."

Brittany Martel, 27, was found deceased on side of highway

B.C. coroner determines 2018 deathof Hay River woman was accidental

photo courtesy of Facebook

The 2018 death of Hay River's Brittany Martel in British Columbia has been ruled accidental by a coroner's report.

PAul [email protected]

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WedNeSday, May 13, 2020 ▼ 9www.hayriverhub.com

The NWT will soon be seeing some easing of restrictions imposed to combat Covid-19.

"It will be very soon," said Dr. Kami Kandola, the GNWT's chief public health officer. "The final draft has been completed and it's under-going review as we speak."

Kandola was speaking at a week-ly media briefing on May 6, during which she said the detailed document will reveal the way restrictions can be eased in a phased approach.

"These next days will be about preparing for these next steps," she said. "We are finalizing the public presentation of the plan so residents see a clear path forward for gradual-ly, safely emerging from these public health measures and how it will affect their lives."

Kandola said she will be excited to share the details as soon as she can.

There was one indication of an area that might see an easing of restrictions – outdoor recreational facilities.

"When you're looking at the risk of transmission in an outdoor setting, it is considerably less risky than an indoor setting," said Kandola. "So when we're looking at which restrictions we're going to ease, outdoor restrictions would have a higher priority in the early phase."

As she does each week, she thanked NWT residents for their "extraordin-ary" commitment in fighting Covid-19.

"As of today, we've contained this together and together we'll continue to rise to the challenge," she said.

Kandola was asked by The Hub if she is sensing frustration about the restrictions among NWT residents.

"I recognize it's hard on everyone, including my own family," she said, adding that she does sense frustrations from people struggling because busi-nesses are not open, not having play dates or not being able to meet with

their long-term partners.Kandola noted that the NWT is dif-

ferent from most of Canada in that its risk is travel-related.

"So we're in an enviable state when you look at other provinces, mainly," she said. "So we want to move for-ward. We've developed a plan to move forward. We will move forward. All I ask is for people to hang on just a little while longer."

As of May 6, the NWT's number of Covid-19 cases – all recovered – stood at five.

Kandola noted there has been a rise in testing since the expansion of clinical criteria, which had the goal of increasing the number of tests.

"We saw 147 tests collected between April 27 and May 1, the first full week since announcing our expanded criteria," she said. "Compare that to 87 collected from April 20 to April 24. That's a 59 per cent increase and we hope that trend continues as we move forward."

Chief public health officer reveals plan in final stages of preparation

Kandola says some easing ofCovid restrictions coming soon

NNSL file photo

Territorial medical director Dr. Sarah Cook, left, and chief public health officer Kami Kandola at a press conference held at the legislative assembly in March.

PAul [email protected]

Knit snake craft kit offered in Fort Smith

Thebacha/Fort SmithNorthern Life Museum & Cultural Centre

in Fort Smith is offering free family craft kits.As garter snakes near Fort Smith come out

of their winter hibernation, community residents have been invited to make their own knit snake.

People could pick up a kit at the museum late last week and early this week.

For those who could not make it to the museum, Mary Kaeser Library can deliver a kit on May 14.

The kits are available on a first come, first served basis.

Stuff for free Facebooksite launched in Smith

Thebacha/Fort SmithA new Facebook-based group – called Fort-

smithfreestore – was launched on May 5.The group is a place for anyone in Fort

Smith looking to give away, find or trade any items.

There will be no selling of items.The initiative is all about reusing and recyc-

ling items that would have normally ended up in the landfill, such as wood, fabric, household items and clean clothing.

Organizers advised that anyone using Fort-smithfreestore should follow appropriate safe-ty measures and social distancing during the Covid-19 crisis.

SLFN provides Covid-19assistance to members

Thebacha/Fort SmithAs a response to the Covid-19 pandemic,

the chief and council of Smith's Landing First Nation (SLFN) have approved a second payment to assist members with basic needs.

The financial assistance for members on and off reserve is to help purchase food and disinfectant/cleaning supplies.

The assistance consists of $200 for a single-person household; $300 for a household of two; $400 for a household of three; and $500 for a household of four or more people.

SLFN has reserve land in northern Alberta, just south of Fort Smith.

Many of its members live in Fort Smith.

ARouND THE SOUTH SLaVe Paul Bickford is the reporter for The Hub. Send your ideas to: [email protected].

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www.hayriverhub.com10 ▼ WedNeSday, May 13, 2020

Town council has approved a new 2020 Hay River Tourism Develop-ment Plan.

The plan, which was passed on April 20, will cover the next three years, basically the remainder of the current council's term in office.

It was originally presented to council in early March and it was met with praise from councillors.

"It's a pretty impressive docu-ment, I must say," said Coun. Brian Willows at that time.

"This is a great report," said Coun. Steve Anderson.

Mayor Kandis Jameson called it a solid document.

"It's focused," she said. "I like that it isn't a 25-year plan, it's a three-year plan."

And Coun. Keith Dohey noted a lot of the goals are achievable.

"I don't think there's anything in this document that's unrealistic, which is something else that I appre-ciate about it," he said. "It's not lofty, pie-in-the-sky ideas that we probably would never be able to achieve."

Of course, since those comments in March, the Covid-19 pandemic has spread around the world and upended the tourism industry every-where.

"I think the strategy and the plan-ning is still valid," said Judy Gouch-

er, the town's senior administrative officer, when asked on April 30 how Covid-19 would impact the plan.

"I think that everyone in the Northwest Territories and pret-ty much across the world expects that tourism over these next several months will not be anywhere near

the levels that they would have been had Covid not taken place. And in the Northwest Territories, I've seen announcements come out of the territorial government where they're concerned that tourism levels are going to be dramatically impacted in a negative way because of Covid."

Goucher said the new plan will likely have more application in the future than it will in the 2020 tour-ism season.

The plan was prepared by the Tourism and Economic Development Committee, which consists of repre-sentatives of council, town adminis-

tration and the community."The tourism development plans

are intended to take a strategic look at your environment, in this case the town of Hay River's environment and understand what opportunities might exist for developing tourism further," said Glenn Smith, the town's assis-tant senior administrative officer and administration's representative on the committee, while speaking to coun-cil in March.

The new plan, which replaces the previous one created in 2012, includes numerous goals, initiatives and strategies, such as attracting more rubber-tire tourism; developing infrastructure to showcase the natu-ral environment and culture; devel-oping infrastructure such as Porritt Landing and the Fisherman's Wharf Pavilion; diversifying tourism prod-ucts and services; beautifying the community; increasing marketing; supporting Indigenous tourism; pro-moting sports tourism; supporting festivals and events; attracting tour-ists going to Yellowknife and more.

"We also want to be a choice des-tination within the Northwest Ter-ritories," said Smith. "We know we have natural assets that are attractive for people to come so they can spend multiple days within the community and help generate revenues."

More than 4,000 people passed through the Hay River Visitor Infor-mation Centre in 2019.

SAO says strategy will still be valid for future despite current Covid-19 disruption to travel

Council approves three-yeartourism development plan

NNSL file photo

The 2020 Hay River Tourism Development Plan, which covers the next three years, has been approved by town council.

PAul [email protected]

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