A plane crash on Tuesday that claimed four lives near North Spirit Lake is yet another reminder of the dangers faced by those living and working in northern reserves.
According to reports, a Keystone Air plane, carrying four passengers and a pilot, was attempting to land in a blinding blizzard and went down in a ball of fire.
One passenger managed to escape the wreckage, crawling free.
The accident comes within a week of Aboriginal leaders in Northern Ontario and Manitoba calling on their respective provincial governments to consider speeding up plans to increase the number of all-weather roads to remote, fly-in reserves.
It could be money well spent. Economically it could vastly reduce the cost of goods and services on the reserves, along with lessening the need for harrowing wintertime flights into and out of the communities.
And it doesn’t necessarily have to be solely on the backs of taxpayers.?The roads, which NAN Grand Chief Stan Beardy said should run along the east-west corridor, could also be vital links for the Ring of Fire and other mining projects.
Certainly, with billions at stake, the mining companies can be expected to contribute heavily to the construction of the roads, while helping to improve the lives of those whose traditional lands they’ll be developing.
