Thank you very much, Michael.
Just as a little history, Michael used to be my boss way back when, so he can smile and....
In regard to Michael's question here, training and resources are much needed. We do as much training as we can. We work with municipal governments. Again, in the Northwest Territories, like you said, we have 33 communities and eight of them are designated authorities. We have two reserves. We have bands and Métis locals within municipal governments. Again, the biggest challenge is to understand everybody's role and their ability to do things.
What this last flood did, or the one in my riding did last year, was that it showed the importance of people working together. What I found was that in the community of Fort Simpson—I'll use that as an example—the band, the Métis and the village got together. They worked on a communication plan of who was responsible for what. Then it tapped into our regional EMO team. Using our superintendent they did tabletop exercises and that there, so we were able to have them do it.
The biggest challenge is that, when you look at what resources are needed, you only end up realizing what you need after the disaster happens. That's probably the biggest challenge I've seen. I was impacted by the flood. My home didn't get hit, but the community I lived in got hit pretty bad. Again, it was seeing the resources we needed after the fact.
In saying that, though, the Government of the Northwest Territories and the federal government were very good, even with the COVID situation, in getting us the resources we needed. They were a little bit behind, but because, again, if you don't know what you need in the community at the time, it is not readily accessible. As soon as we knew what we needed, like ENR with shower facilities and camp facilities, they were able to provide that. It was the same with the community of Jean Marie, whereas in Hay River and the reserve they had access to the road, so they were able to get out. Fort Simpson was landlocked, I guess, because the ferry wasn't in yet and the ice bridge was taken out.
Do we need more resources? Yes, but to say exactly what those resources are, again, it would be very specific to the communities and seeing what their needs are.
Thank you.