Enterprise, N.W.T., residents without home insurance won't get financial help to rebuild

Residents in Enterprise, N.W.T., whose homes weren't insured when they burned in last summer's wildfires have been told they won't get financial help to rebuild.

Nearly the entire community was destroyed by wildfire last summer. 

Longtime Enterprise resident Winnie Cadieux, a former mayor who ran a restaurant and art gallery, is one of those residents who lost their home. 

Cadieux said the final word came from the territory's Municipal and Community Affairs department at a meeting last Tuesday, where residents were told "face to face" that the federal government "had decided there was no help."

Cadieux said home insurance in Enterprise can be incredibly expensive. She said one quote she got for her own home was over $7,000 a year. 

"That's where the help should come, for those who have been devastated," Cadieux said. 

There is no full-time fire department in the community, only volunteers, and Hay River is a 30 to 40-minute drive away. 

Cadieux remembers when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other politicians visited the community last summer after the fires. 

"They said, 'we're here to help you. We see the devastation.'"

"We needed reassurance that what the prime minister told us when he was shaking our hands and looking at the devastation, that they were there to help us, that it was more than just words."

N.W.T. MP Michael McLeod said the territorial government has not informed him about what its plan is for Enterprise residents without insurance.

"My understanding is the federal government is going to be waiting to see what they're proposing," McLeod said. 

At one point, there was a proposal on the table that the territorial government purchase temporary units for residents while they look for a permanent solution. 

McLeod said the federal Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements fund is emergency funding, and that for new permanent homes "you have to go through other avenues."