Higher than normal winter temperatures are sparking concern among remote First Nations communities in northern Ontario that rely on winter roads made of ice and snow to transport food, fuel and building supplies.

Toronto Star: OTTAWA — Higher than normal winter temperatures are sparking concern among remote First Nations communities in northern Ontario that rely on winter roads made of ice and snow to transport food, fuel and building supplies.

The Nishnawbe Aski Nation, which represents 49 First Nations communities across the province, includes 29 communities that depend on winter roads. As of Jan. 8, it said only one road was fully open to traffic — leaving some to use roads that haven’t been officially opened, and others scrambling to make their own snow.

Winter roads are created over frozen rivers and lakes so trucks can be used to deliver consumer goods, food, fuel and building supplies to remote communities that are otherwise accessibly only by boat or plane.

But creating the roads requires both snow and temperatures that are typically in the -30 C to -40 C range. This winter, some northern Ontario communities are experiencing temperatures about 10 C warmer, and a lack of snow. That means the lifespan of some winter roads, which need to be able to support the weight of heavy transport vehicles as well as lighter cars and trucks, might be counted this season in days, rather than weeks or months. 

The warmer winters are prompting some communities to issue urgent calls for permanent solutions, like all-season roadways, which would require millions in financial investment from Ottawa and Ontario.

Winter roads are common across the northern regions of most provinces and territories, and are mainly supported by fixed contribution agreements between federal and provincial governments. Ontario has a network of 30 winter roads stretching 3,000 kilometres that connect 32 First Nations, which have about 45,000 members on and off reserve, as well as the Town of Moosonee. The province provided $6 million in base funding this year to communities to build and maintain the roads.

Cat Lake First Nation relies on a 175-kilometre winter road to deliver essential goods from Pickle Lake. Chief Russell Wesley said the road should already be in use, but that due to warm weather in December, it might not open to light traffic until the beginning of February.

Wesley believes climate change is responsible for the lack of snow needed to build up bridges over rivers that can support the weight of transport trucks. He said Cat Lake has borrowed a snow-making machine from Dryden, Ont., located 220 kilometres south, to help build the road.

“We’ve had to go to that extreme, to make our own snow,” he said.

Wesley is concerned about how long the road will be in use, predicting it won’t be able to support the weight of transport trucks until the middle of February. That would leave only a few weeks before the weather starts to warm up again in March.

“Realistically, we’re going to have a week to two weeks of a winter road use, and I can’t express to you enough how difficult it is to co-ordinate funders, contractors, building suppliers, fuel suppliers — to co-ordinate all on this very narrow window,” Wesley said.

Cat Lake needs the winter road to bring in heavy equipment for an airport project, which has already been delayed five years, and building supplies to upgrade steel bridges for the community, as well as food shipments and fuel. Wesley said having fuel flown into the community would cost 70 to 80 per cent more than having it brought in by road.

A 2022 report by the Canadian Climate Institute said Canada’s North faces a “double threat of already inadequate infrastructure in a rapidly warming climate,” endangering the health, well-being and livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples.

“The North is degrees warmer than it used to be, much more than the global average and that has significant implications for a part of the country in which infrastructure and transportation is based largely on having snow, ice and frozen ground that can be relied on,” said Ryan Ness, the institute’s adaption research director.

Ness said the institute’s research suggests that no northern community may have a viable winter road season by the end of this century.

Indigenous Services Canada spokesperson Suzanna Su said the ministry monitors winter roads and provides “some targeted infrastructure funding for their construction,” including $82.7 million since 2016. Su said ISC “will do what it takes to make sure the delivery of essential supplies is uninterrupted and impacted communities have what they need at all times,” should winter roads not be tenable this year.

Bearskin Lake First Nation, located more than 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, is usually one of the first communities to open its winter road, Wesley said. However, Chief Lefty Kamenawatamin said the road that links his community to Muskrat Dam First Nation is still not officially open, even though some community members are already using it at their own risk.

He said climate change and the rising cost of living, including the price of airfare and community safety, are prompting Bearskin Lake to consider the need for an all-season road. “Twenty years ago, that wasn’t the case,” Kamenawatamin said. “We’re coming to a point where we have to think about it. The mindset started to change.”

Wesley said he has asked Indigenous Services Canada for $93 million to build a 90-kilometre permanent road to Cat Lake First Nation, which he said will cost $117 million overall, according to studies he had conducted for the community. Wesley said he was told by the Ottawa and Ontario governments that no capital exists for the road.

Ontario Ministry of Northern Development spokesperson Anita Tamrazi said the province is “committed to helping Indigenous communities build a more reliable and safer winter roads network,” and has invested an additional $5 million this year for the “elimination of dangerous ice bridges through the purchase and installation of preengineered bridges and culverts.”

The ministry did not respond to questions about community requests for funding for permanent roads.

Wesley said his community wants a permanent road. “They say we need a road for our youth in the future, and we also need that road because we have a land use plan that’s legislated under the Far North Act,” he said, adding these plans involve development in forestry and biomass diversity for the area.

Ness said building all-weather roads would require a huge financial investment. There is also the challenge of building them on thawing permafrost, which will require more expensive construction techniques on top of the challenges of transporting equipment and supplies and the need for more skilled labour.

If done right, however, Ness said there is an opportunity to make sure that “Indigenous northern communities get the infrastructure and get the services that they need, and that are on par with the rest of the country.”

“If we do it wrong, we can exacerbate and perpetuate that colonial legacy.”

Joy SpearChief-Morris is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics and Indigenous issues for the Star. Reach her via email: jspearchiefmorris@thestar.ca