Latest news with #Yellowknife
CBC
21 hours ago
- Climate
- CBC
Hearne Lake Lodge no longer at risk from nearby wildfire, says N.W.T. Fire
Hearne Lake Lodge is no longer at risk from a wildfire burning east of Hearne Lake, according to N.W.T. Fire. In a post on Tuesday evening, N.W.T. Fire announced that the lodge, which had been facing a wildfire threat since the beginning of July, was "no longer at risk" from the flames. The lodge is about 60 kilometres east of Yellowknife. The fire in question originally began as two separate wildfires but then merged together to form what Edie Yoder, the owner of Hearne Lake Lodge, classified as "a massive beast." She said it was hard to know how fast the flames were advancing toward the property. "It was just this beast, this monster that was growing so rapidly," Yoder said. While this is the fifth year the lodge has eluded wildfires, Yoder said that this fire was the most "unsettling." The fire forced Yoder, her husband and their two dogs to evacuate twice to a small island nearby. There, they were able to keep an eye on it. Yoder's husband was also able to occasionally go back to the lodge and provide fuel to keep the water pumps and sprinkler system functional. N.W.T. Fire said the lodge's victory against the flames was largely due to the steps Yoder and her husband took to protect the property. "Thanks to the proactive measures taken by Hearne Lake Lodge owners, crews were set up for success when it came to protecting structures from this wildfire," they wrote in a fire update. Yoder herself saw the moment the flames were stopped from reaching the house by the sprinklers. When the fire "hit the dome of moisture created by the sprinklers, we watched it stop in its tracks," Yoder said. The fire "just literally died in its tracks. It was amazing to see."
CBC
2 days ago
- General
- CBC
Weledeh Catholic School launches land-based junior kindergarten program
Junior kindergarten is going to look a bit different for some kids in Yellowknife this year. Weledeh Catholic School is launching a land-based junior kindergarten program. Sarah St-Pierre has more.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Detox beds at Stanton Hospital part of new N.W.T. alcohol withdrawal program
Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife now has beds for people going through alcohol withdrawal. In a news release Tuesday, the N.W.T. Health and Social Services Authority announced that the hospital has been operating two medical detox beds since May to help people with complex needs before they enter a treatment program. Detox involves medical staff who help patients with the risks of severe alcohol withdrawal. The health authority said admissions are being co-ordinated through the Alcohol Withdrawal Access Program. Referrals are available for clients of the Facility-Based Addictions Treatment program in the Dehcho, Sahtu and Fort Smith areas "This is a major step forward in enhancing in-territory options for mental wellness and addictions recovery," the news release states. It says it has plans to expand the program so people can be referred from other regions in the future, as well as from on-the-land programs. The news release says it must be part of a broader recovery plan and is not by itself treatment for alcohol addiction. Last March, the territorial health minister said the department planned to improve addictions treatment including detox.
CBC
3 days ago
- General
- CBC
Yellowknife school launches land-based junior kindergarten
Gloria Gaudet has been teaching junior kindergarten for two years, and come the fall, she will be doing it a whole new way. She will lead Weledeh Catholic School in Yellowknife's first land-based junior kindergarten class. "I am excited and a little nervous. I think it's such a great opportunity to connect to the children, to the land and our traditional ways at an early age," she said. "And it's also a big responsibility." The new program, open to up to 20 kids, will split the school day between an indoor and outdoor classroom, merging the existing junior kindergarten curriculum with outdoor play and traditional knowledge. So far, three quarters of the spots have already filled up. The program has been in the works since last fall and was designed with help from Weledeh staff, the school district's Indigenous language education team and their connections with the community, from whom they sought feedback. "One of the biggest things we heard is that we want these kids to understand the importance of the land and how valuable it is," said Paul Kelly, the school's new principal. He also sees the return to play as a potential way to fend off the rise in mental health concerns observed in schools "not just here, but all over the world." Kelly says the aim is to bring back opportunities for adventure, exploration, and safely taking healthy risks while playing outside that have been missing from the existing model. Weledeh is in the early stages of building a fenced outdoor classroom area, and will have a fire and cabin for the winter. Part of the outdoor learning will also happen through field trips where possible. Kelly says some existing facilities on the school grounds will also be used for the class, like tents that provide warmth in the winter. Mandee McDonald, a faculty member at the land-based Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning in Yellowknife, says she has not seen many models combining land-based and Western education in the public education system. "The value that I see in land-based programming is specifically from Indigenous knowledge holders being able to teach land-based knowledge, connection to the land, Indigenous worldviews to Indigenous students," she said. "Though I also strongly think that all those lessons around Indigenous worldviews and ways of doing and ways of being are extremely beneficial for all young people to learn." Kelly said that while the school is only starting with junior kindergarten, there are hopes to scale up the program all the way up to high school in due time. "I think in the back of our minds, everyone who's invested in this is thinking next year it's going to be kindergarten, maybe down the road it's going to be Grade 1 and 2," he said. McDonald says she sees promise in exposing the students to ways of knowing the Western curriculum doesn't include. "In my experience, with the public education system, and this is kind of documented in the literature as well, there's a lot of underlying racist assumptions built into Western models of education and the things that we're taught in the school system," she said. She says offering a land-based program can be a way to undermine that. At Weledeh, the plan is for elders to visit the outdoor classroom to share their language and culture with the children. Gaudet expects the kids in her class will learn about Dene law, fire-feeding, drumming and more. "I am very excited to have the community involved at the school, tell their story and share their stories," she said.
CBC
3 days ago
- Health
- CBC
Yellowknife's wastewater is showing signs of 2 new 'potent' drugs, health official warns
The N.W.T.'s top health official says two new drugs have been detected in Yellowknife's wastewater — and both could be harmful. In a public health advisory Monday from Health and Social Services, Chief Public Health Officer Kami Kandola said an opioid called Isotonitazene and a sedative called Xylazine were both detected for the first time in the territory in May. It took this long to report because it takes at least six weeks to process samples, the department said. It said Isotonitazene is thought to be more potent than fentanyl, while Xylazine is used as a tranquilizer in veterinary medicine and is sometimes found mixed with fentanyl. Sampling showed that synthetic opioids similar to fentanyl were also present at detectable levels — the second time in the past year that that's happened. The department said neither Isotonitazene nor Xylazine can be detected with fentanyl test strips, and both "can cause harmful effects in humans based on potency." The effects of an Isotonitazene overdose can still be reversed with Naloxone. The health advisory stated neither of the drugs can be detected by sight, smell or taste either, and Xylazine can make an opioid overdose worse.
