Community members are celebrating the introduction of year-round road access with the completion of a $5 million bridge project at Weagmou Lake Narrows.
The Wa-Pik-Che-Wanoog bridge completes a permanent connection between North Caribou Lake First Nation and Pickle Lake.
Funded by the federal government, the project began 12 years ago as part of a winter road realignment program.
North Caribou Lake, also known as Weagamow or Round Lake, is about 900 kilometres north of Thunder Bay.
It has been forced to rely on an increasingly unstable winter road network as its primary route for vital supplies.
A news release Tuesday from Nishnawbe Ask Nation notes that as a result of climate change, commercial traffic on winter roads in northwestern Ontario has been available for as few as 28 days in recent years, a significant reduction from 77 days just a decade ago.
North Caribou Chief Dinah Kanate said community Elders had been asking for a bridge for years because they were noticing the impact of climate change and were concerned about how it would influence life in the community.
Kanate said two pieces of heavy equipment have gone through the ice during maintenance operations.
"I am pleased this bridge is finally open, and it is significant that the great-great-grandchildren of our ancestors who first walked these trails could participate in today's ribbon-cutting," she said.
