The Government of Ontario, First Nation groups, and Mother Nature are part of a tenuous three-way partnership in which access to remote northern communities hangs in the balance.
With winter’s late arrival, winter roads that by now normally weave a path over land and frozen lakes are just not ready.
Isadore Day, the Ontario regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations, said the reliability of the northern winter road network is in jeopardy throughout the North.
Day said First Nations leaders from Ontario plan to press political leaders to bring this “essential issue” to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet table. Solutions will have to include all levels of government, he said.
“For what it is worth, you’re going to have every government at the table to ensure these road systems are done properly and that they’re done in a timely fashion,” Day said.
The winter roads have essentially become a way of life for the communities and now they can’t rely on those winter roads,” Day said, noting the network is used to offset the cost to bring essential goods to fly-in reserves by air.
