Northwest Territories General Election, 14 November 2023

Wildfires, summer 2023 

As of August 17, 2023, the Northwest Territories (NWT) of Canada saw more than 230 active wildfires having experienced unusually dry spring and summer seasons, combined with strong winds (Shingler 2023). Canada as a whole was experiencing one of the worst wildfire seasons on record. As a result, firefighting crews in other provinces and territories were unable to assist with the wildfires in the NWT, as they have already been dispatched to other locations (Levine et al. 2023).   

65 per cent of the territories’ residents had to be evacuated from the area due to the wildfires (Elections NWT 2023a). Research has shown that Northern Canada, the location of the NWT, is warming at approximately three times the global rate (Bush and Lemmen 2019). Rising temperatures caused by global warming will lead to more frequent and intense heat waves, which elevates the risk of wildfires (Bush and Lemmen 2019).  

Impact on the electoral process 

As a result of the wildfires, the NWT general election was postponed by six weeks, from 3 October to 14 November 2023 (Elections NWT 2023a) (Gaspard et al. 2025). This was due to safety concerns, as well as the logistical difficulties inherent in large-scale evacuation of residents. As of 12 September 2023, there were 26,959 voters registered for the polls (Elections NWT 2023b). 

Elections NWT announced special voting arrangements for 2023: voters could cast absentee ballots online and voting options at the Offices of the Returning Officer were broadened through the “Vote Anywhere” initiative (Elections NWT 2023a). The latter allows eligible voters from smaller communities to cast advance ballots for their home district at regional centres in Yellowknife, Hay River, Fort Smith and Inuvik (Elections NWT, 2023c) For candidates, although the Chief Electoral Officer could not extend the campaign period itself, the pre-election spending period was postponed  by six weeks, with extra flexibility for reimbursement of candidates needing to spend their own money (rebate of 50 per cent, up to a maximum of $3,000 – pre-campaign period only) (Elections NWT 2023d).  

Voter turnout was registered at 52.24 per cent, slightly lower than the 2019 voter turnout of 54 per cent (Elections NWT 2024; Elections NWT 2019).