Fort Simpson woman still struggling with disaster assistance program
CBC
Laverna Martel-Harvey has been working out of a cramped crew house since the devastating flood that swept through the Dehcho region of the Northwest Territories last year.
South Nahanni Airways' new office is being built in Calgary and is still a few months away from arriving in Fort Simpson, N.W.T.
Martel-Harvey owns the business with her husband Jacques Harvey, as well as Wolverine Air, and Airports North Ltd., which operates the airport on the island. She expected to pay for the new office with funds from the territory's Disaster Assistance Policy (DAP), but it may not be eligible for funding.
"[Government officials] haven't given me any proper answer as to why," she said.
It's the latest in a string of frustrations she said she's had with the DAP.
More pressing is the possibility of having to pay back all $300,000 she received after missing the government's deadline to submit paperwork for her claims.
Overall, 129 residences, 41 small businesses or non-governmental organizations and four community governments made claims. The N.W.T. government estimates the response and recovery for last year's flood to cost about $40 million.
Originally from Hay River, Martel-Harvey has been in touch with people in the community going through their own recovery.
"Don't be sitting there thinking that it's all going to be gravy because you're going to be getting [money]" she said. "It's not like that at all."
Martel-Harvey said her businesses were already struggling due to the pandemic when the biggest flood in 60 years hit.
They lost several fuel tanks and vehicles, their office was damaged, their airport is still not fully restored, and "the list goes on and on," said Martel-Harvey.
Assessors determined the couple suffered about $2 million in damages across their three businesses.
In the spring, their staff usually doubles to about eight people; last year after the flood, there were no additional hires.
Instead, she and Jacques spent most of their time cleaning up.
Aggressive patients and lack of security are making nurses feel unsafe in a rural Western Manitoba emergency union, says the Manitoba Nurses Union.
Saskatoon resident Delynne Bortis knew her commute to work Tuesday morning would be particularly difficult.
WARNING: This story contains details of abuse and intimate partner violence:
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.