Displaced residents of Enterprise, N.W.T., eligible to vote in upcoming hamlet election

Displaced residents of Enterprise, N.W.T., will be allowed to vote in the upcoming hamlet election, as long as they were on last year's voter list. 

N.W.T. legislation says that a voter must reside in the electoral district for 12 months leading up to the election date and some residents of the small South Slave community were concerned their displacement from the 2023 wildfire would render them ineligible. 

Alex Gresl, the hamlet's senior administrative officer (SAO), says that won't be the case. 

"It's no fault of their own they are not able to live here, they've been dealing with enough so we wanted to keep this process as relatively simple as possible," Gresl said. 

The community's current mayor, Barb Hart, previously told CBC News she requested a policy change from the department of Municipal and Community Affairs and hadn't heard back. 

The department did not respond to CBC's questions at the time but in a recent email statement, a spokesperson said that the hamlet is required to appoint a registrar who is responsible for assessing voter eligibility.

Gresl said he's not aware of any residents who want to vote and won't be able to. 

The hamlet election is Monday, Dec. 9. Voters, even those displaced, are required to vote in person at the hamlet office. They can do so between 10a.m. and 7 p.m.  

Residents will vote for a mayor and four councillors.