Remote northern Manitoba communities anxiously wait for winter road openings

Northern Manitobans are nervously eyeing the sky and their thermometers hoping for the right conditions for winter roads to open.

Ralph Harper of St. Theresa Point First Nation, Man., is watching the river in his community hoping it will soon turn to ice. The river needs to freeze so the community's 294-kilometre winter road can connect to Berens River.

But, the weather is not co-operating in the Northern Manitoba community. 

"We depend on the winter road for our supplies, our materials, our food, our gasoline," Harper said. "We only have a short window."

Typically the road opens around the first week of January and closes around the first week of March. He says that likely will not happen this year.

The shorter window is a result of climate change. He says remote northern communities need help to have access to essential supplies and transport.

Keewatin Tribal Council (KTC) Chief Walter Wastesicoot says communities started worrying about winter roads in November because of the unusually high temperatures and a lack of snow. The Keewatin Tribal Council represents 11 communities spread throughout northern Manitoba.

"People enjoy the warm weather, but for me, it's scary," Wastesicoot said. "Winter seasons … have been shorter and shorter, and it's not going to be long into the future when there's no winter road season."

He says Canada and Manitoba have ignored the needs of KTC First Nations, nine of which live without access to Manitoba all-season roads.

Winter road trends

Winter roads serve 30,000 Manitobans in 22 communities. The roads see 2,500 shipments of goods yearly, including fuel, construction materials, heavy equipment and store supplies.

In 2023 the roads in the northern part of the province all opened by Feb. 4, and all but four roads further south opened by Feb. 6. 

All winter roads were closed by April 14, 2023. 

Travel is not permitted on any closed winter road or when temperatures are -5 C or milder.

This means it will be a challenging year to open winter roads in northern Manitoba.

In Norway House, the average high in December was -1.9 C. The historical climate average high in the community in December is -13 C.

Island Lake, which includes communities that are fly-in most of the year until the ice roads open, faces a similar situation. The community's average high in December was -3.8 C — well above December's historical climate average high of -15.6 C.

Oscar McDougall is the capital project director at St. Theresa Point.

Winter road construction began in November and now they're waiting for more snow as they work to open the road.

He says the road is essential as it connects Island Lake — a community of around 16,000, including Garden Hill, Red Sucker Lake, St. Theresa Point and Wasagamack First Nations — to Southern Manitoba.

They usually try to have it open by Jan. 20.

"This year because of the warm weather ... I'm not sure we can make the 20th, but, we're we're working on it," McDougall said. 

Climate Change

Christa Dubesky, University College of the North (UCN) science instructor, says the effects of climate change are felt year-round in northern Manitoba, especially for outlying communities facing shrinking winter road access.

When she first moved to the north 20 years ago, she could access ice roads from mid-December to mid-February, she says.

Communities are now lucky to access these essential roads two or three weeks of the year.

"The roads up further past Thompson … they're not always in great shape," Dubesky said. "It's a little bit terrifying because you're reliant on [the roads] … they're isolated."

When Dubesky began teaching environmental science in the early 2000s students were worried about the future of the ice roads due to climate change.

That message has only gained urgency, she said.

At times, it's hard not to feel nihilistic.

"I think it's going to take some real sweeping legislation to make people wake up."

Other options needed

Tim Gibson of UCN says everything revolves around transportation in northern Manitoba, and ice roads are key infrastructure.

The post-secondary institution is tackling northern transportation issues, he says, assisting in research with some capacity to partner with Transport Canada.

Gibson is the UCN manager of the Northern Workforce Development Centre. He works on the Manitoba Airship Research Task Force with Barry Prentice, director of the Transport Institute at the University of Manitoba. It's goal is for Thompson to be a hub for airship development and testing.

Prentice thinks airships are the answer to northern transportation woes.

In Manitoba, there are more than 290 communities that are considered remote and fly-in with many relying on winter roads to get materials, fuel, food and other necessities in, Prentice said.

 "The number one reason that the North is impoverished is that there's no transport," he said. "You can't develop a business if you can't bring things in and out on a regular basis, efficiently and affordably."

Gibson says airships could have a larger impact in northern Manitoba, especially when it comes to greening the economy and the growing requirements for bulk material transportation.

There are also opportunities to use drones and data mining to explore the best way to ship goods.

"Prudent strategy would be to utilize the existing transportation networks we have as efficiently as we can," Gibson said. "There's just massive geographical regions that need servicing. So looking at innovative options reduces costs and increases efficiencies … more things can happen with the same amount of dollars in time."

What Canada and Manitoba should have done years ago is put in the all-season roads, Wastesicoot said. The all-season roads are also an opportunity for economic stimulus in the north.

KTC has proposed to Canada and Manitoba to create an all-season road study to build roads into nine First Nations. 

Communities are continually pushing for all-season roads, Harper said. 

This infrastructure would keep them connected with the rest of the province year-round and are becoming imperative in the face of climate change.

"Climate change is very real," Harper said. "This year is probably the worst we ever encountered."