Unseasonably mild weather across northern Ontario is posing challenges for crews building the network of winter roads that many First Nations in the far north rely on.
The chief of Kingfisher Lake First Nation, 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, says a crew in his area has had to abandon pickup trucks for snowmobiles in order to access worksites on ice-crossings. "We would (normally) almost be using the winter roads for light traffic by about now, but the weather has held us back here," said Eddie Mamakwa.
He said his community needs the road network to bring in some crucial commodities. "That's the only way to mobilize our goods like fuel and housing materials," Mamakwa told tbnewswatch.com in an interview on Monday.
This season, he said, the winter road is even more important because Kingfisher Lake is expecting delivery of a 15-ton diesel generator, something it has been planning for over the past two years. "I just hope it works...I'm crossing my fingers here. If not we're going to have to come up with another plan to bring that in," Mamakwa said.
Northern Development and Mines minister Michael Gravelle said government officials are keeping in touch with First Nations and maintaining a close eye on the situation, which he described as "alarming."
Gravelle said a cold spell earlier in the season allowed for a good start to the construction season, but milder weather over the last two weeks has proved to be "a fairly serious" setback.
Ontario shares the cost of the winter road network with the federal government, while the First Nations manage the actual construction.
The minister said the trend toward milder winters in recent years has opened up conversations about establishing all-weather road access to some of the remote communities. Gravelle said he has had discussions on that topic with federal officials and with the leadership of the northern First Nations.
