On an early morning last November, much of Whitehorse was shaken awake by a huge explosion. Once I’d made myself a coffee, I opened Facebook to talk to my neighbours about what we’d heard, what we’d seen and felt, and what might be going on.
A few months before that, when close to 30,000 residents of the Northwest Territories—almost 70 percent of the territory’s population—were evacuated under the threat of wildfires, many of them logged onto Facebook to share updates about their progress on the long drive south. They shared intel about where to get gas and asked around about places to stay—did anyone in Edmonton have room for a family of three and a couple of cats?
