Fort Providence, N.W.T., prepares for Yellowknifers’ return home, says goodbye to evacuees in hamlet – CBC
Sep 06, 2023
‘Maybe next time they’ll come and say hello instead of just driving by,’ mayor says of evacuees hamlet hosted
At Big River Service Centre, shelves are stocked and fuel tanks are 100,000-litres full as the only gas station on the highway between Yellowknife and the Alberta border prepares for swaths of returning evacuees.
General manager Linda Croft said Big River’s made sure the gas station was well stocked throughout the evacuation, and staff themselves made trips to High Level, Alta., and Fort Simpson, N.W.T., to ensure travellers aren’t left wanting.
“I’d like to see everyone get what they want when they come back for that last little leg of their journey,” Croft said.
But she says getting those supplies would have been made easier if her business had been deemed essential.
“We had to really, really dig our heels in and become inventive in how we were going to get our product in,” she said, speaking with Trail’s End host Lawrence Nayally on Tuesday.
