TRIAL BY FIRE
BY ROBERT LIWANAG
Few senior dogs are as energetic as 13-year-old Sedze, a white and beige Shih Tzu whose name means ‘my heart’ in the Dogrib language, spoken by the Tlicho First Nation. Aptly so, as Sedze has been a beloved member of the Yellowknife-based Cumming family since she was eight weeks old. Despite being in her golden years, Sedze can still keep up with Axel, the family’s nineyear-old German shepherd, on long walks. “Our vet always comments on what good shape she’s in,” says her owner, Louise Cumming, a collections officer for Housing Northwest Territories. “She’s a real trooper kind of a dog.”
In August 2023, the little Shih Tzu’s resilient spirit went through a real-life trial by fire. On 13 August, Louise and her husband, Shannon, were shopping for non-perishables and packing up their camping gear in anticipation of an evacuation order. A massive wildfire 35 kilometres west of the city was getting dangerously close and officials were monitoring its path.
Over the previous three months, Canada had been dealing with its worst wildfire season on record. In all, more than 6,600 wildfires were recorded in the country in 2023—1,000 more than the 10-year average.
On 16 August, the evacuation order came and Yellowknife’s 20,000 residents were instructed to leave the city. At 9:15 p.m., Louise, along with her husband, daughter-in-law and her daughter-in-law’s best friend, hopped into two cars and a truck with their pets: Sedze, Axel, a husky named Rhea, a cat named Copernicus and a chihuahua named Choco. Along with their clothes, phones and laptops, they made their way onto the Mackenzie Highway, heading south toward Alberta. (Louise’s son, who worked at a diamond mine in the North Slave Region, was to rendezvous with the group later.)
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